Nobody, however, who surveys the conventional working apparatus of courses of study, textbooks, recitations, examinations, and marks can have much doubt that in practice the schools are making the mastery of the curriculum an end in itself.
A statement of "teaching to the test" in 1939!
Depuis longtemps, je suis d’avis que la rigueur d’un cours ne se mesure pas à la quantité de connaissances dont l’enseignant fait étalage, mais aux apprentissages que les étudiants font.
Which can lead to an assessment of pedagogical efficacy. It's funny, to me, that those who complain about "grade inflation" (typically admins) rarely entertain the notion that grades could be higher than usual if the course went well. The situation is quite different in "L&D" (Learning and Development, typically for training and professional development in an organizational context). "Oh, great! We were able to get everyone to reach the standard for this competency! Must mean that we've done something right in our Instructional Design!"