Testing capitalism: Perpetuating privilege behind the masks of merit and objectivity

The accountability paradigm for reforming public schools began in theU.S. as a state-based initiative grounded in establishing state standardsfor core content and developing high-stakes tests and schedules to holdschools, teachers, and students accountable (Hout and Elliott, 2011).This essay examines the test-based patterns of that paradigm over thepast thirty years by confronting testing as a mechanism of surveillance(Foucault, 1984) and then examining the accountability era in SouthCarolina as an example of the power and failure of accountability basedon tests. Tests remain powerful, I contend, because they reinforce theinvestment-and-return vernacular that reflects and reinforces Americans’faith in capitalism over democracy