When assessment defies best practice

“Imagine an educational approach that teachers believe is unfair, inaccurate, developmentally inappropriate, and damaging to student and teacher motivation.

“Next, imagine that teachers feel great pressure to comply with this approach despite these objections and their belief that it makes their colleagues more likely to teach in ways that contradict their own ideas of good educational practice.

“It may seem hard to believe an approach that raises these objections would persist in our schools, but it has. That approach is high-stakes testing.”

Read Gene R. Carter’s essay in the ASCD editorial series, Is It Good for the Kids?