The article makes some good points and mirrors the experience of many ambitious teachers I've seen ground out of "the system".
That's why there are people who study the behavior of teachers in the aggregate (and, yes, this involves measuring outcomes through testing), and the associated educational outcomes, so that policymakers at various levels can guide the educational system as a whole in a way that will be the most helpful for the most students. This is, broadly speaking, just one example of how social science research and policymaking is done.
Of course, none of this means that Marzano is not clueless. He might be clueless for entirely separate reasons.