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Home > About CES > Testing Statement > About Action Kit
To the Editor:
High-stakes standardized tests - tests that can prohibit a student from graduating or advancing - have been increasingly used in recent years as one of the most, if not the most weighted factor in trying to identify underperforming students and schools. But the costs of these tests - both in terms of dollars and teaching time - have been very high despite their glaring weaknesses. That's why a national school reform group, the Coalition of Essential Schools, recently called for a reversal in the trend toward using these bureaucratically-administered, one-size-fits-all tests to determine student advancement.
No two students and no two schools are alike. Yet students are prevented from advancing to the next grade, and schools stripped of funding and resources based on cookie-cutter exams scored by the state or other outside authorities. This trend has resulted in highly qualified teachers' changing their pedagogy to "teach to the test," and an alarming number of underserved students' dropping out of school altogether.
Students learn best in highly personalized, highly challenging environments in which assessments are high-stakes, but performance-based, such as well-designed exhibitions and portfolios that demonstrate years of learning, not months of cramming and "test prep." Students should be challenged to meet high standards set by the school and the community and to demonstrate competence across the curriculum. These community-determined standards can and should be based on national curriculum standards, but can be adapted to local contexts, creating learning that is meaningful to students and schools.
High-stakes standardized tests narrow, distort, and weaken curriculum, while indicating little of true significance. School-based assessments provide a more equitable and meaningful way to gauge learning and performance.
Sincerely,
[your name]
[your school/organization]
How do I use it? Copy and paste the above template into a new, blank word processing document. Modify the template to represent you and your local school(s) with any relevant information or issues that relate to high-stakes testing in your area. Then disseminate your letter to local, state and national news papers.
Page last updated: July 07, 2004
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