High Stakes Testing and/or Inspection: Does it work?

Bird Droppings July 12, 2026

High Stakes Testing and/or Inspection: Does it work?

About twenty-four years ago, I recall we spent several months preparing for a peer review; it was called a GAPPS Review. About the same time, you throw in the Georgia High School Graduation retests, the PSAT, and the End of Course tests coming up, and literally daily there is or was ongoing teaching-to-the-test and/or inspection of one sort or another in education. We gear ourselves so diligently to getting ready for the tests, and even more than for the tests, maybe we lose sight of what education is really about: a quality education.

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Bill Gates

Reading this at first might cause you to wonder if Bill Gates has lost his marbles. But look deeper into what Gates is really saying. If a company has no unhappy customers, it is essentially doing everything right. Another big gun, Steve Jobs, had an issue with the iPhone 4; it seems the phone, when held, had a hard time getting a signal. I think they had a left-handed designer who put antennae on one side; a right-handed person would hold the phone and thereby cancel the signal. Solution: a free case for all iPhone 4 purchasers, which, at last count, was about six million.  

“Quality is meeting or exceeding the expectations of your customers,” Phillip Crosby.

If we expand that customer base further to all people who we come in contact with, then that idea of a source of learning is magnified many times over, and if we now also have that group of everyone having expectations of us, we quickly become either good or evil depending on how the world views us. That could be a stretch, but in reality, this is how we do see things. What if we could apply this to education?

“Learning is not compulsory …. Neither is survival.” W. Edwards Deming

 Leading into my thoughts, a fellow from years gone by, Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Deming was one of the greatest industrial management consultants and thinkers of the 20th century. He provided the insight that Japanese industrialists built empires on after World War II. He summarized them in fourteen points, which I have included because there are some good thoughts regardless of whether you are in industry, teaching, or simply a parent. I can recall my father borrowing these from Deming as he discussed a good and quality Safety Program.

The 14 points for management in industry, education, and government create constancy of purpose toward improving products and services, becoming competitive, staying in business, and providing jobs. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.

1. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for mass inspections by building quality into the product in the first place. (Maybe we in education need to read this one several times and then again)

2. End the practice of awarding business based on price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.

3. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.

4. Institute training on the job.

5. Institute leadership (see Point 12 and Ch. 8). The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management and production workers needs an overhaul. (Leadership: what a powerful word, yet in education you generally get management)

6. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company (oh, if we could eliminate fear among teachers, what a workplace we could have, and who knows, maybe even empower teachers)

7. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team to foresee production and in-use problems that may be encountered with the product or service.

8. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity lie within the system and thus are beyond the workforce’s power. (I wonder when we will ever see this in education, as we constantly want to compare the US to Japan to China to each other to ethnic groups. Our educational system is built on comparison, and the great quality expert is saying no way)

9. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.

10. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership. (See my response on 8)

11. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of artistry. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.

12. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of artistry. This means, inter alia, the abolition of the annual or merit rating and of management by objectives.

13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.

14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.

Reference: http://www.deming.org/ – The W. Edwards Deming’s Institute

Interesting, as I looked through the list, I saw applications for myself in teaching. There are very near parallels to Foxfire Core Practices and several other teaching references. For example, point one: “Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.” Not only did Deming see this as a problem, but so did Sen. Paul Wellstone.

“Making students accountable for test scores works well on a bumper sticker, and it allows many politicians to look good by saying they will not tolerate failure. But it is a hollow promise. Far from improving education, high-stakes testing marks a major retreat from fairness, from accuracy, from quality, and from equity.” Sen. Paul Wellstone

Deming saw this as an issue in industry. If an inspector has to check for errors and/or faulty pieces of an item, what was interesting in his research on inspectors was that the number of faulty pieces was in direct correlation with the total number of pieces actually produced. In effect, inspectors knew they had to find x number of pieces, and that is how many they found. Many faulty pieces went through regardless of inspection if the total was met. Deming is saying build a quality piece first so there will be no faulty pieces. Teach appropriately, and you will not have to test.

”A plague has been sweeping through American schools, wiping out the most innovative instruction and beating down some of the best teachers and administrators. Ironically, that plague has been unleashed in the name of improving schools. Invoking such terms as “tougher standards,” “accountability,” and “raising the bar,” people with little understanding of how children learn have imposed a heavy-handed, top-down, test-driven version of school reform that is lowering the quality of education in this country.” Alfie Kohn

Sitting here this morning after a quick ride chasing a moon and the sunrise, I am waiting to relax and sit quietly for a few minutes. Each year, we seem to add two or three more weeks of intensive testing in our schools; each county has its own name for its testing to meet state and national criteria. In days gone by, some were called the End of Course Tests, EOCT, and Georgia High School Graduation Tests, GHSGT. There is not much pressure on High School Students at all to succeed in Georgia; that is an understatement. In bold letters, every student knows if you do not pass this test, you will not pass this course and/or graduate. I heard a rumor that this statement is being tattooed on students before tests: “pass or leave,” but I found out it is false. In industry, in politics, in homes, and in schools, we so often use that mentality to accomplish the ends with our children, employees, and even friends.

As I look at Bill Gates’ quote again and think about students taking standardized tests, you would think someone would have caught on by now. Maybe we need to get tested more? Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts and do look over Deming’s fourteen points; there are a few good ideas, and be sure always to give thanks. Namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

docbird