State, local and classroom provisions for assessment should be directly linked to standards, by assessing what students should know and be able to do, and reflecting the level of performance defined as necessary for minimal competence as well as high levels of performance. The results of the assessments should be reported to both educators and the public in a timely fashion, so that they will know how current school performance compares to education standards and to the performance of others. Timely information and support should be used to offer prompt help to students who do not meet minimum standards. Assessment systems should reflect education standards, use multiple measures to assess students' knowledge and skills, prescribe consequences that are clear and fair, and undertake special efforts to communicate the results clearly to students and their families, teachers and principals, policymakers, media and the public. Money and time should be reallocated for such testing, dropping tests unrelated to standards.
Testing takes time, money and effort.
Therefore the Goals Panel believes state assessment systems should focus on measuring all students' attainment of standards which are broadly understood by the public. Assessments should produce results that are clear and useful to educators, parents, and the public. Assessments should serve as tools in states attempts to meet standards and improve instruction. Textbooks are where the students meet the standards. Currently textbooks have been called the nation's de facto curriculum.