These questions are urgent. Growing evidence shows that where high-stakes tests are used as a sledgehammer, they are spurring a dramatic rise in dropout rates, now approaching 50 percent for black and Hispanic students in Texas and in many cities nationwide. Richard Atkinson, president of the University of California, recently proposed dropping the main SAT test as an admission requirement. I agree with Caperton. Significantly, test publishers expressly oppose the use of their tests as the sole factor in high-stakes decisions.
Testing is essential.
But as a matter of fairness and accuracy, tests should be just one component of a broader approach to assessing a student's pro-gress. Smart guy, that Einstein.