Testyzowanie edukacji i jego efekty
Testizing Education and Its Outcomes

Summary/Abstract: In the essay, the author offers to re-theorize the main ideas of the book Testy edukacyjne. Studium dynamiki selekcji i socjalizacji [Educational Tests. The Study in the Dynamics of the Selection and Socialization] (2017) by Agnieszka Gromkowska-Melosik. Using the examples meticulously described in the book, the author isolates the universal patterns of social changes affected by educational testing whereby the agents involved in the testing at various levels reorient their behaviour. These changes are called testization and are seen to unfold at three levels: testocracy (macro-social level), testolatry (cultural values level) and teaching to the test (micro-social level). Testocracy understood as „governing through tests” is the use of abstract systems as a selection tool. Testocracy understood as „managing through tests” allows for comparative evaluation of educational systems worldwide. Testolatry refers to the cultural beliefs about objectivity and independence of tests. These beliefs secure a stable and socially legitimized order of testing. Finally, teaching to the test modifies the techniques of knowledge transmission and ascribes a higher value to such techniques that are more likely to improve test results.

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