Assessment Reform at Crossroads

By Monty Neill

Across the nation, the movement for new forms of student assessment appears to have slowed and in some cases even reversed. Gov. Pete Wilson of California, for example, vetoed the reauthorization of the California Learning Assessment System, which included not only a substantially open-ended state exam, but also funded a wide array of local assessment-development projects.

Now California will pay local school districts to use off-the-shelf tests. That means most will use norm-referenced, multiple-choice exams. Though most educators oppose the use of such tests with young children, California's new law says that a district must begin testing in grade 2, or it will not be reimbursed for any of its testing.

Arizona also halted its performance exam, for apparently political reasons. The National Assessment of Educational Progress may regress back toward more multiple-choice items. As a front-page story in the Jan. 31, 1996, issue of Education Week noted, "Caution is increasingly the...