This work deals with how and why standardized tests have become the ubiquitous standard by which educational achievement and intelligence are measured. How did standardized tests become the measure of performance in our public schools? In this work, the author attempts to answer this question by analyzing the development of standardized testing, from the days of Horace Mann and Alfred Binet to the current scene. Approaching the issue from a sociohistorical perspective, the author demonstrates the ways standardized testing has been used to serve the interests of the governing class by attaching a performance-based value to people and upholding inequality in American society. The book also discusses the implications that a restructuring of standardized testing would have on the future of education, specifically what it could do to eliminate the measure of individual worth based on performance.

Ameasure of failure -- The nature and function of standards -- Academic achievement and ability as forms of vertical classification -- Standardized tests as markers of social value -- The rise of public education: the impulse to mark achievement and ability -- Achievement testing: the case of Horace Mann -- Intelligence testing: the case of Alfred Binet -- Political origins of testing -- The failure of testing.