Decisions about assessment are often built on myths about teacher professional judgment and subjectivity that prioritize standardized assessment over classroom assessment. Ken O'Connor and Matt Townsley discuss some of the most common myths and explain how to dispel them by developing clear guidelines in which teachers can exercise their judgment,…

IQs increased by about 30 points in the 20th century. Part of this increase may have been the result of increased standardized testing because testing improves the skills on which students are tested. But although these practices may increase general intelligence, they may impede the development of creativity and wisdom. As a result, our society…

The OECD and its U.S. administrator, McGraw-Hill Education CTB, have recently concluded the first cycle of the OECD-Test for Schools in the U.S. This test is being marketed to local schools and is designed to compare 15-year-olds from individual participating schools against peers nationally and internationally using the OECD's PISA test as its…

The tests we use to evaluate student achievement may well be sound measures of what students know, but they are faulty indicators at best of how well they have been taught. A remedy to this this situation of judging teachers by the performance of their students on high-stakes tests may be in hand already. We should look to the methods successfully…

Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, large-scale assessments have come to play a central role in federal and state education accountability systems. Teachers and parents have expressed a number of concerns about their state testing programs, such as too much time devoted to testing and the high-stakes use of testing for teacher evaluation.…

People dislike the Common Core for several different reasons, and so it is important to disaggregate the sources of opposition and to assess and then to dispel some of the myths that have built up around it. It also is important to understand the unusual political alliances that have emerged in opposition to Common Core implementation and how they…

Explains how the arrival of the performance contractor, Behavioral Research Laboratories, at Gary, Indiana, was beneficial and why their departure became a necessity. Contends that the tenure of BRL had to be curtailed because they functioned not as a creator of a new program, but as a change agent sufficiently powerful to force change at Gary.…

The structure and power of certain reading, mathematics, and psychological tests prevent educators from really seeing children and how they think. Furthermore, the curriculum has been corrupted into nothing more than practice for the tests. Adults rarely ask children what their thinking was. This drill-and-kill approach reveals little truth about…

Evaluates a set of videotaped explanation- and procedure-based assessment activities that challenge high school students to apply scientific concepts to solving problems. Students frequently relied on description when asked for explanation and used revision to confirm their original prediction. The solution may be to relate instruction to context…

The author rebuts two points in an article from the November issue that criticized those who criticize standardized tests. (IRT)

A teacher describes the frustrations of an intelligent, learning-disabled fourth-grader who cannot pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System despite standard academic accommodations. The teacher advocates development of alternative or "nonstandard" accommodations and tests that assess students' spatial, problem-solving, and…

Describes experiences of two elementary math teachers, whose dynamic, hands-on teaching techniques were at odds with components of the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS). Despite these teachers' successful efforts, the new Commonwealth Accountability and Testing System (CATS) replacing KIRIS will not contain portfolios. (12…

Schools are plagued with significant deficiencies in measurement and assessment methods. The practice of dropping grades to control unacceptable student behavior is wrong and probably illegal. Also, tests are often severely flawed or misused. Administrators must recognize sound assessment, reward it, and deny advancement to those violating its…

The compelling ideas underlying the standards movement are being distorted by poor implementation and political opportunism. Higher standards will probably not affect the nation's already booming economy or close the white/minority achievement gap. An emerging rebellion, driven by negative testing consequences, is eroding political support.…

Mountains of data over 10 years show that the educational sky is not falling. This article deplores critics' disregard of the Sandia Report, American policymakers' test-craziness and education/economic productivity obsessions, the overrated "Texas Miracle," National Education Goals, and weighty student backpacks. (MLH)