I just read a Forbes article arguing that standardized testing companies have driven secondary English educators to abandon a focus on book-length literature in favor of short documents. Forbes is not exactly a scientific journal focused on careful research methods, but it is a source many would regard as credible so the article was worth a look.
Forbes describes the switch in focus I have just described as focusing on the “atomization of literature”. It acknowledges that a single book (Moby Dick was the example) might take a third or fourth of a year of instructional time, but argued that dealing with lengthy material develops important skills not satisfied by short content.
I must admit that when I first encountered this article I would have thought the focus would have been on the online reading experiences of adolescents which do mostly involve short posts. Adolescent reading habits were not mentioned by the author.
The logic for the author holding standardized testing companies responsible goes something like this. Standardized comprehension assessments rely on the understanding of short text segments – read this and then answer the following question. This is obviously true. The article then contends teachers want their students to score well on these tests and hence adjust their instruction to focus on the reading of short documents.
First, I don’t know that teachers prioritize short document comprehension or that assignments have changed. Second, I do not think it has been established that teachers make a connection between standardized reading comprehension tests and the type of tasks they assign.
I can certainly agree that different skills are required in the reading of lengthy documents or in the integration of ideas from multiple documents from those that are required to comprehend short passages. I also assume educators assign longer documents and evaluate the processing of such material through writing or other means. Whatever issues exist in relationship to the use of standardized testing and the testing industry, the complaint I have described here seems a stretch.