The Big Bad Wolf dressed as Granny to eat Little Red Riding Hood is a harrowing allegory we could well assign to standardised assessment tests, or SATs.
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The wolf is within our education system: Australia's SATs - the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).
It looks the part, pretends to be the real deal and, when questions are asked, will go to great lengths to hide its true identity.
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But is high-stake standardised testing improving education?
Proponents will jump to the defence and say NAPLAN is good.
Those supporting the tests claim they focus on the importance of literacy and numeracy, track progress over time, distinguish individual areas of weakness on a national scale, are reliable and improve learning.
NAPLAN is bad. The Big Bad Wolf is the test itself. NAPLAN constricts teaching and learning, it is biased, detrimental to creativity, pressurises kids and schools, leads to league tables, and does nothing to improve learning.
The debate will rage this week and next, then die down and not be heard of again until the results are published - usually in late September or October.
But is NAPLAN improving Australian education? The answer is quantifiably NO!
At a recent lecture on improving our schools acclaimed Canadian educator Professor Ben Levin discussed data highlighting that first world countries with high-stake standardised tests had seen no quantifiable improvement in results.
As an educator with international experience, I have seen there is a narrowing of curriculum diversity. I have evidence of schools spending three hours each day preparing for NAPLAN. I know of schools where children spend Saturdays and holidays preparing for NAPLAN.
Professor Barry McGaw, chairman of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (responsible for NAPLAN) says the idea of schools teaching to the test is "nonsense". He is either in denial or lying. I know teachers questioning their profession because they are being directed to teach to the test.
Standardised testing restricts creative and engaging teaching. The Whitlam Institute's literature review of the impacts of high stake testing concludes high-stake testing leads to "a narrowing of curriculum, a restriction in the range of skills and competencies learnt by students and a negative impact on the ability of teachers to employ creative and engaging pedagogies".
Teachers feel the pressure of teaching to the test. Why start a study of Shakespeare when you are directed to improve your students' NAPLAN scores?
NAPLAN does not direct teachers to individual student's areas of weaknesses, nor does it lead to better diagnostics for three key reasons:
¦ Schools do not get to see the test papers of individual students to scrutinise responses and discuss with the student.
¦ Teachers do not actively "mark" the test papers, and so trends are not authentically identified.
¦ Time delays mean schools receive outdated NAPLAN results at the end of the academic year, when students are preparing for the next academic year.
If you have a child in Years 3, 5, 7 or 9 ask them if they are doing much NAPLAN practice. Then ask if they like NAPLAN.
John Stewart is headmaster of Tudor House, a K-6 boys preparatory school in the Southern Highlands.
