High-stakes testing hasn’t brought education gains

Abstract

The only thing that more testing will tell us is what we already know: The schools that disadvantaged children attend are not being given the supports necessary to produce achievement gains. Students cannot be tested out of poverty, and while NCLB did take us a step forward by requiring schools to produce evidence that students were learning, it took us several steps backward when that evidence was reduced to how well a student performed on a standardized test. Why not give parents the right to opt out of tests when they realize states have not done the work of guaranteeing their children are being adequately prepared?