What we really don't know for sure is whether the test items truly measure the knowledge and skills we believe are required of our students for their twenty-first century life of work and leisure. In terms of a meaningful, comprehensive student assessment program in our schools, the state standardized test is and should be just one very small component. Generally speaking, by itself a standardized test administered at the end of a school year does little to impact the quality of teaching and learning in a school. State officials have good intentions about state tests hoping that they will bring about needed change to curriculum and instruction in our Arizona schools, but it is unlikely. A single state test has a very tiny place in the evaluation of student achievement.
Testing is a subset of evaluation.
Any of these methods, if designed well and matched to the learnings expected of students, can be legitimate and useful assessment types. His point is that we should never rely on one type of information. Students will not reach the high level of achievement we hope for unless there is meaningful assessment and feedback from their teachers continuously throughout the school year. Teachers are also not able to perform their own work to its highest level unless they have valuable assessment information about their students. Good diagnostic assessments are needed to improve instruction.