If you don t test, you can t measure. If you can t measure, you can t be sure students are learning. In the hands of caring parents, information is powerful tool for education reform. Because parents deserve to know how their child s school stacks up against others. Because parents deserve to know whether their children are being taught by qualified teachers, and whether their child s school is falling below expectations.
Testing produces data - and in the hands of concerned, involved parents, data equals power.
Washington has increased education spending steadily since 1965, but we ve never once asked the states using those dollars to be accountable for results. As a result of policymakers skittishness about accountability, billions of taxpayer dollars have been squandered and a generation of opportunity has been lost. Today it s virtually impossible to know whether federal education dollars are getting the results to which our children are entitled. And as far as the and the federal education establishment is concerned, that s just fine. The latest incarnation of this effort is an amendment to be considered Tuesday that would strip the President s bill of its accountability provisions.