The linked blog article is far more interesting. Thanks for both reads!
I'm a tad thick, so I didn't completely understand the article. Was the article in favour of leaning towards more essay-oriented examination, and eliminate the creation and widespread use of multiple-choice tests? Or was it criticising No Child Left Behind and its greater focus on test results?
Definitely the latter. Also, the author was not expressly in favor of more essay-oreinted examination, but rather the ability to be the arbiter of what passes for a good essay rather than the test, since the particulars of how the scoring works on standardized essays means that to actually teach a student how to score well means you have to, literally, teach them how to write poorly and in a way that will cause them to fail when they get into college and have their writing graded in a sane manner.
I'm about to start the Australian version of college in a week. Most of the exams I had the previous year were essays. Still I hope I'm not one of those many students mentioned in the article (although I am in Australia, where things are different)