GENUINE ACCOUNTABILITY IN TESTING

WHEREAS, we believe that a heavy emphasis on standardized, multiple-choice tests as the primary measure for national educational goals will undermine many of the educational reforms we wish to achieve; and

WHEREAS, it is crucial that the Department of Education, the state legislatures and other policy and education officials recognize that standardized, multiple-choice tests are not an adequate means to measure educational progress, nor are high test scores an appropriate educational goal. Other educationally sound means of evaluation exist and provide a basis for improving teaching, informing the public and measuring progres9-thereby providing genuine accountability; and

WHEREAS, NYSUT supports the goal of moving from reliance on standardized multiple-choice test scores to the use of alternative, authentic and appropriate methods of assessing educational performance and progress; and

WHEREAS, AFT calls for the use of appropriate and authentic evaluation for use in classrooms and to assess aggregate student achievement and progress and calls for the SED and local districts and federally funded programs, such as Chapter I, to implement available alternative assessment measures and continue to develop new ones for use in evaluating students and programs; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education, state legislatures, SED and local districts should not call for new or additional testing scores as a goal of educational reform; should not call for new or additional testing with standardized, multiple-choice exams; and should not rely on existing standardized tests as indicators of educational progress. These tests misdirect the curriculum, are inadequate educational measures, are not instructionally useful and can be replaced with authentic assessment methods:

RESOLVED, that we support alternatives that go by various names: authentic, appropriate, performance based and direct. They are evaluations based on asking students to demonstrate what we want them to be able to know and do. For example, if students should write well, we should look at their writing. Appropriate assessments, including teacher observations, performances, exhibitions, portfolios of student work, checklists and open-ended questions that encourage real thought. These assessments provide instructionally useful information, can avoid the cultural and racial biases of many standardized tests and be put into a form that will provide useful data and genuine accountability to local, state and national governments; and

RESOLVED, that a timetable should be set for phasing out standardized, multiple-choice tests and replacing them with reliable, valid and educationally appropriate alternatives. In the period prior to the implementation of alternatives, use of and reliance on standardized multiple-choice tests should be reduced as much and as quickly as possible.