Promoting Sound Assessment - a paper prepared by
FairTest for the American Association of School Administrators,
published on our website with permission.

What Superintendents Can Do to Promote
Sound Assessment in Light of NCLB

By Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Co-Executive Director
FairTest

The following language changes to Title I, Part A, section
1111 of NCLB would encourage more productive assessments:

1. Paragraph (b)(3) ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS-
Summary of key changes: limit mandated state assessments to three
grade levels in reading/language arts and mathematics; clarify
that assessments shall be standards-based, use multiple measures
including performance assessments, and ensure assessment of higher-order
thinking and learning.

• FairTest Fact Sheet: The Value of Formative Assessment HTML

   

• The Expert Panel on Assessment recommends overhaul of NCLB testing and accountability provisions.

• See the full report:

The Learning Record is an open system of literacy and mathematics assessment, K-12, maintained and monitored by the classroom teacher to provide evidence that students are moving toward agreed upon goals and standards. Parents (and/or other adult mentors) and students themselves contribute evidence for the Record. Teachers summarize and record this information to inform their teaching and to calibrate their interpretations of the standards with others beyond the classroom for accountability purposes.

The current wave of test-based "accountability" makes it seem as though all assessment could be reduced to "tough tests" attached to high stakes. The assumption, fundamentally unproven, is that such tests produce real improvements in student learning better than do other educational methods.

“Accountability” has become the fundamental tool for instituting changes in public schools. In most states and districts and through the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, accountability means using standardized test results to trigger labels, sanctions, rewards or interventions for districts, schools, educators or students.This approach has been both insufficient and has had undesirable side effects.