Why Eva Baker Doesn't Seem to Understand Accountability: The Politimetrics of Accountability?

Formative assessment has been under-valued and under-funded in education. Formative assessment is what really helps teachers focus their instruction on students’ immediate needs. A major complaint educators have about statewide accountability assessments is that they make poor formative assessments for teachers. True, but the real problem is we can’t seem to let accountability assessments simply do their job without faulting them for not being formative assessments as well. We should all be demanding separate assessments—one designed to be an excellent accountability measure, and many designed to be excellent formative assessments. But no, educators who disagree with the money and time invested in accountability measures have lobbied politicians to stretch the use of those assessments beyond the capability of a well-designed accountability test. There is plenty of money to have two separate assessment programs—one to rate schools and one to diagnose and prescribe instruction. Plenty of money if we automate test administration, scoring, and reporting. Plenty of money if we apply extreme security and confidentiality standards only to the accountability assessments, not to the formative assessments.