Jaimee T. Mendillo
“A Standardized Test is a Poor Substitute for Justice: The Intersection of High-Stakes Standardized Testing and Race in NYC Schools.” Video series recorded at a parent-organized event in conjunction with Black Lives Matter in Schools week at the Institute for Collaborative Education in New York City, February 7, 2018. https://www.optoutnyc.com/a-standardized-test-is-a-poor-substitute-for-justice-1. This panel brings together educators, activists, and a student to discuss how high-stakes standardized testing in NYC schools perpetuates and deepens systemic inequities.
Au, Wayne and Melissa Bollow Tempel. Pencils Down: Rethinking High-Stakes Testing and Accountability in Public Schools. Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools Ltd, 2012. This book of articles and resources critically examines the detrimental impacts of high-stakes standardized testing on public education and advocates for more authentic, equitable, and democratic assessment and accountability practices.
Baldwin, James. “A Talk to Teachers.” Delivered on October 16, 1963, as “The Negro Child-His Self-Image,” published in The Saturday Review, December 21, 1963. Accessed via the Zinn Education Project: https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/baldwin-talk-to-teachers. This powerful speech urges educators to equip students, especially Black children, to critically examine and challenge the societal myths and realities of U.S. history and racial injustice in order to foster a more equitable future.
Croizet, Jean-Claude. “The Racism of Intelligence: How Mental Testing Practices Have Constituted an Institutionalized Form of Group Domination.” In The Oxford Handbook of African American Citizenship, 1865-Present, edited by Lawrence D. Bobo et al. Oxford University Press, 2012. This academic source delves into the role of mental testing in creating and maintaining systems of group dominance, directly aligning with the idea of using psychological measurement for social control based on perceived genetic worth.
Kober, Nancy and Diane Stark Rentner. “History and Evolution of Public Education in the United States.” Center on Education Policy at George Washington University, 2020. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606970.pdf. The document traces the development of American public education from its colonial origins to the present day, highlighting its expansion, key historical shifts, increasing federal involvement, and ongoing challenges.
Kober, Nancy et al. “For the Common Good: Recommitting to Public Education in a Time of Crisis.” Center on Education Policy at George Washington University, 2020. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606967.pdf. This article emphasizes the broad support for the civic purpose of public education in the United States, highlighting the need to prioritize and strengthen civic education.
Long, Cindy. “Standardized Testing is Still Failing Students.” NEA Today, March 30, 2023. https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/standardized-testing-still-failing-students. This article argues that standardized testing is still failing students by being an inequitable and ineffective measure of learning and growth, prompting calls for alternative, more equitable assessment methods.
Meier, Terry. “The Case Against Standardized Achievement Tests.” Rethinking Schools, Winter 1988/1989. https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/the-case-against-standardized-achievement-tests/. This article argues that standardized tests are flawed because they inaccurately measure student abilities, neglect important skills beyond basic academics, exacerbate educational inequality by favoring certain demographics, and negatively impact the quality of teaching and curriculum.
Merchant, Emily R. Klancher. “Breeding for IQ.” Los Angeles Review of Books, August 22, 2024. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/breeding-for-iq. This article directly links the concept of "breeding for IQ" to the historical eugenics movement's efforts to use intelligence tests to categorize and influence reproduction based on perceived genetic qualities.
Peterson, Erik L. The Shortest History of Eugenics. From “Science” to Atrocity – How a Dangerous Movement Shaped the World, and Why It Persists. New York: Experiment Publishing, 2024. This book provides a comprehensive historical context for the eugenics movement and its goals, including the desire to use scientific means for social engineering.
Rosales, John and Tim Walker. “The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing.” National Education Association, March 20, 2021. https://oregoned.org/advocating-change/new-from-oea/racist-beginnings-standardized-testing. This article addresses the racist origins of standardized testing, and these tests were developed in conjunction with the eugenics movement's efforts to categorize and control individuals based on perceived worth.
Stetler, Pepper. “Trumpian ‘Common Sense’ and the History of IQ Tests.” Los Angeles Review of Books, May 8, 2025. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/trumpian-common-sense-and-the-history-of-iq-tests/. This article explores the troubling history of IQ tests and special education, arguing that a historical understanding of these systems reveals a connection to contemporary "common sense" and rhetoric that evokes a return to eugenicist ideas, especially in the context of the Trump administration.
