According to a new report on statewide testing released today by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), most states have made progress in developing clear grade-by-grade standards, but many have not aligned their high-stakes math, reading and science tests with a strong set of content standards, which leads to a distorted picture of how students, schools and teachers are performing.
“Smart Testing: Let’s Get It Right—How Assessment-Savvy Have States Become Since NCLB?” comes 11 years after the AFT issued its first “Making Standards Matter” report on the rigor of each state’s core academic standards and five years after the enactment of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates. “Smart Testing” examines the quality of the 50 states’ and Washington, D.C.’s content standards for reading, math and science. The report analyzes whether state tests for those subjects are aligned with strong—clear and grade-specific—content standards.
“If tests do not line up with strong content standards, then the results often lead to incorrect judgments about schools, principals, teachers and students,” said AFT Executive Vice President Antonia Cortese. “Unfortunately, those eager to see bottom-line results frequently and incorrectly assume that this critical alignment is there.”
Read the full report, here.