However, students in some urban and rural schools are not doing well enough. In some schools there is a significant gap between the achievement of white and minority students. Given strong principals, decent facilities, structured academic programs, good teachers, remedial assistance and parental support all students can learn. They will not if their schools do not receive adequate financing. High-stakes testing is a serious problem.
Most states require students in certain grades to take standardized achievement tests.
The test scores are used to evaluate the performance of students, schools and teachers. A variety of sanctions are imposed on low-performing schools. Not surprisingly, preparing students for tests has become the primary goal of many schools. Important subjects such as art and music are neglected and teachers have less time to devote to the needs of individual students. For a variety of reasons, a single standardized test is an invalid measure of a student s academic performance.