A Simple Plan for School Testing

Here's another interesting idea for how to improve testing (it's probably impractical, but I like the innovative thinking):

The unpleasant truth in many struggling schools is this: If it isn't tested, it isn't taught. If we want children to be truly educated, we need an accountability system that cannot be gamed, designed with the law of unintended consequences factored in.

Suppose now that I know a state inspector will show up two or three times a year in my school to administer a test. I don't know when, which grade, or what subject will be tested. I don't know if the assessment will be  oral, written, or multiple choice. I don't even know who will have to take the test.

A  randomly generated list of students are escorted to the school library to sit for an exam in third-grade science, for example. A few months later, the inspector returns, this time with a list of fifth-graders to take a reading  exam. The results of these random tests can be used to judge the school's Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind.

We  can continue giving the existing standardized tests in reading and math to every student, but the results of those exams should be used by teachers and  administrators to guide instruction for individual students, rather than an all-or-nothing roll of the dice.

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A Simple Plan for School Testing

BY ROBERT PONDISCIO
September 18, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/62823

Imagine that you have an important business meeting scheduled for March. Your annual review, your raise, your job itself all depend upon the outcome of that meeting. If you were smart, you'd start preparing right away, and relentlessly focus on it for months. The only thing that matters is the meeting.