Does standardized testing improve education for students in the US? Not by itself, but a well constructed test can measure how well someone has learned the material being tested. Measurement is highly useful, as it can provide insight about what is working and not working. In that sense, I think standardized tests are just as useful in great education systems as they are in ones that need improvement.
I agree. All the secondary school exit exams in other OECD countries are standardized: everyone takes the same test, and it's based on the same stuff. The difference is that other countries don't rely on multiple choice in the extreme way that the US does (some don't use them at all).
Re: patents.
My point was to show that her use of patents per citizen in the US was a (deeply) flawed way of highlighting how swell our education system is. I agree with points that have been made that aren't related to that conclusion, though.
