Time for a Testing Bill of Rights

Catherine Brown writes that we must measure how well students are performing and adjust instruction accordingly, but we should dramatically improve testing practices to make tests more valuable.

Along with flowers and warm weather, spring ushers in standardized tests. Whether you love them or hate them, standardized tests are here to stay. But when used effectively and sparingly, tests can and should be an important tool for improving education.

Over the past two years, testing has become one of the most controversial issues in K-12 education. Valid frustration from parents, teachers, and students boiled over last spring in states like New York and New Jersey, where significant numbers of parents chose to have their students skip required end-of-year tests.

But the start of testing season gives us the opportunity to re-examine the purpose and use of tests. And with this examination, we need to move towards better, fairer, and fewer tests.

The above excerpt was originally published in InsideSources. Click here to view the full article.

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