Join the conversation

The Seattle Times is reporting that federal testing demands have driven the cost of Washington State's standardized tests much higher than expected--and higher than state lawmakers are willing to spend.  Lawmakers' answer to the problem:  Seek savings by "chopping the number of open-ended, thought-provoking questions and delaying some extra features...."

The situation in Washington State offers an object lesson in the perils of mounting ambitious testing regimes on a shoestring.  As Tom Toch argued in 2006, policymakers' tendency to nickel and dime assessment programs is strengthening incentives "for states and their testing contractors to build tests that measure primarily low-level skills."  Not only do such tests encourage schools to put higher-order skills on the back burner, they offer meager evidence of actual student learning.

As budget crises loom in states across the country, advocates for sound assessment will have their work cut out for them.