Test-Based Accountability as a Reform Strategy.

Abstract

Tuss thepoEST-BASED accountability aI or high-stakes testing is an idea that has come to seem in evitable. My colleague Larry Cuban likens the testing move ment to an 18-wheeler careening down a steep mountain grade. The five articles in this special section draw on different disciplines empirical bases to reach a common conclusion: slow down on NN ' testing. The articles are not opposed to ) j> > At x testing or accountability; they express concerns about the nature of the tests and i i YI how theywb used. As the authors disSn 'k\. cuss the problem of accountability OW the use of testing as a lever for reform, five themes emerge. fi 1. It matters what you measure. The ~~~~~ authors agree that testing focuses prac tice curriculum not always in ~I ~ ways that serve learners or society well. Tests have narrowed the curriculum to AK the specific topics that they cover, .* in some cases tests have turned the mni- mum curriculum, as expressed by test ? zz content, into the maximum. Most of the \V zi tests in use today certainly tests N

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