Improving the Way Students Are Assessed

To the Editor: Yes, Shael Polakow-Suransky is right. One can design tests that are worth teaching to, but they are more expensive and harder to grade.When money is tight, cheaper tests will be multiple choice, teachers will teach test-taking skills, the curriculum will narrow to what is tested, and the risks of cheating will rise. Test-based reform has turned out the way critics anticipated, not the way the reformers intended.
Francis Schrag
Madison, Wis., Dec. 15, 2010
The writer is professor emeritus of educational policy studies, University of Wisconsin at Madison.