This in-depth news report by Barbara Miner covers the 1999 National Education Summit in Palisades, NY, and goes into great detail about this 3rd National Education Summit. Furthermore, the number of states that will be requiring students to pass high-stakes tests in order to be promoted or to graduate has jumped in the last three years from 17 to 27, and summit leaders are pushing to increase that number. Net Briefs , searching archives of the past 4 years, I found no stories on George Schmidt or Curtis Doble. What I did find from Ed. Low scores can mean students will not get promoted or graduate.
Many educators deplore the new exams, but politicians and the public support the tests.
They are a key part of a nation-wide effort to bring standards and accountability to public schools. Critics of the tests claim they favor affluent kids, test trivia, use up classroom time and ignore myriad talents, like creativity, not covered on tests. Despite these complaints, use of the tests is expected to continue and to expand across the nation. The idea is to use the summit's rhetoric to push demands for more resources for schools, especially in poor communities. Others emphasize the importance of legal action and filing suit against high-stakes tests on civil rights grounds.