You may have seen video footage from a recent meeting of New York city parents who objected to a proposal to reserve 25% of the space in certain middle schools for children who score below grade level on state tests. This policy was proposed to fight segregation, and give greater opportunities to less privileged students.

The incident highlights a systemic problem with standardized testing in our nation.  Standardized tests reinforce and provide a rationale for segregation. But test scores tell us more about the students’ parental wealth and education than anything else.  The process by which test questions are “normed” tends to eliminate questions that non-white students answer correctly in higher numbers.  While tests provide some useful information, accountability systems have turned test scores into the central focus of far too many schools.