Rethinking Testing: Recent Studies Discuss Student Assessments

A number of recently released studies and reports have called for or discussed change in standards-based assessments. The Center on Education Policy's October issue of Test Talk discusses "What Tests Can and Cannot Tell Us," while a November 20, 2002 article in Education Week reports on a trend of "value added" analyses of testing data. Achieve, Inc., a bipartisan group of governors and business leaders founded at the National Education Summit in 1996 to promote student standards and increased performance, has released a report. "Staying on Course" details the promises and problems of standards-based reform and assessments "from state houses to schoolhouses."

Test Talk's report, an "action summary for leaders," aims to tell teachers, administrators, lawmakers, and interested members of the public about the strengths and limitations of tests. Strengths include efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and reporting of general information, while weaknesses include margin of error, volatility, and the dangers of "teaching to the test." Education Week's article describes pilot projects in Tennessee, Colorado, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in which schools and teachers have, or shortly will have, more than just raw test data. Progress by individual students over time is analyzed, and this gives schools a picture of how much they "add value" to each student's knowledge and skills. Achieve's report expresses cautious satisfaction with how much the standards-based reform movement has accomplished so far but warns that too many tests, lack of a national standard of proficiency, and waning support of teachers and parents must be addressed if gains are to continue.

Prepared November 20, 2002