Thus when test results alone are used in selection, misclassification falls disproportionately on minority groups. There is too much educational testing. Testing practices can undermine social policies. As teaching turns into test preparation, test results cease to reflect what examinees really know or can do. Thus our fixation on test results deflects attention from fundamental educational problems and so hinders reform.
Tests are subject to insufficient public accountability.
Thus the industry whose products regulate access to opportunities is itself unregulated and unaccountable. To help promote greater development of the talents of all our people, alternative forms of assessment must be developed and more critically judged and used, so that testing and assessment open gates of opportunity rather than close them off. This Commission proposes that testing policy and practice be restructured to help people develop their talents and become productive citizens, and to help institutions become more productive, accountable, and just. To that end, we offer eight recommendations. Testing policies and practices must be reoriented to promote the development of all human talent.