There is a chorus of critics that believes high stakes testing is punitive, especially with respect to poor minority students in urban school systems. High stakes are not punitive, if our standards and assessments are fair, as I believe them to be. A high school diploma is not an entitlement. It is something that must be earned through effort and achievement. Moreover, acquiring a diploma is not what education is about.
Education is about acquiring knowledge and skill.
It is unfair and unethical to hand young people a piece of paper and tell them they are ready for success when they are not. To be sure, if you look at the percentages only, the picture is not very hopeful. But when you look beyond the percentages to the actual numbers, you will quickly realize that this is a problem we can overcome. For example, sixty percent of black 10th graders failed this year's English Language Arts test. That translates into just over 2,000 students.