rob warren's mn house testimony

i've been using the term "engaged scholarship" to describe research that simultaneously fulfills a professional and public mission. here's an example from the minnesota house of representatives, in which rob warren engages the policy sphere with peer-reviewed social science evidence and a user-friendly website. you can call it public soc, professional soc, policy soc, or critical soc, or maybe just sociology that matters. a press-release is below, but you fast-forward to the dapper gentleman's full testimony about an hour into the session on the 28th.

No clear benefits to high stakes tests

Members of the House K-12 Education Policy and Oversight Committee began to deconstruct the high-stakes assessment dilemma by hearing research on test effectiveness. (Watch the meeting.)

Dr. John Robert Warren, associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, told policymakers his three-year study of such testing in 23 states indicates a clear pattern: States set high standards but back off as “political will erodes” in the face of failure rates and legal challenges. Resulting “compromise solutions” neither help graduation rates nor boost student achievement, he said.

Rep. Randy Demmer (R-Hayfield) asked Warren if there was a “bell curve” in his national studies indicating some rare example of effective high-stakes, high standards testing, “or are we in uncharted waters?” he asked.

“Uncharted waters,” Warren replied.

He said legislators could choose to maintain high standards and high stakes testing if they are willing to live with the likely outcome of lower graduation rates, at least in the short term, but that there is no clear fiscal or pedagogical benefit to doing so.