BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Supporters say proficiency tests are a valuable measure of students' academic progress, and an important accountability tool.
Critics complain that they take away instruction time and force teachers to teach to the test, rather than teaching for learning's sake.
The debate about standardized tests' merit continues as test mania grips the country, with many parents and educators more concerned about test scores than learning retention, said Grant Wiggins, who heads a Pennington, N.J., educational assessment group.
"Assessment tests are not unnecessary; rather, they have an unexpected and unwanted impact on teaching," said Mr. Wiggins, president of the Center on Learning, Assessment and School Structure. "Policy makers don't understand that we need work that is worth getting better at, rather than teaching to simplistic tests."
But others, such as program director Gary Huggins of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform, stand firm in their support of standardized testing.
"States ought to set high and meaningful standards about what children should know and when they're supposed to know it," he said. "And meaningful standards are inseparable from assessments."
Twenty-one states require students to pass an achievement test to graduate; another six states are developing standards and tests, according to the Council of Chief State School Officers of Washington, D.C.
Educators often become frustrated with the pressure for students to test well.
"The public likes to compare districts, and districts are so dependent upon the public for operating dollars that they have no option other than to concentrate on the tests," Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent J. Michael Brandt said.
Ohio's proficiency tests also disrupt class time, Mr. Brandt said. Students spend several hours on each of the test's five sections; the test is administered over several days.
North College Hill Superintendent Stanley Wernz agreed: "We spend so much time being tested that we have lost time for instruction."
Bernie Mixon contributed to this report.
