Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us

by Daniel Koretz

Given all the problems that arise when student achievement is reported in terms of a few performance standards, what should be done? In a recent article in which he outlined a number of the most serious weaknesses of standards-based reporting, Robert Linn of the University of Colorado suggested that we distinguish the cases in which we do need to make binary, up-or-down decisions based on a test—for example, in setting a passing score on a written driving test or in using tests as a minimum criterion for professional licensure or certification—from those in which we do not need to do so. He suggested that in the latter instance, which includes most achievement testing in elementary and secondary schools, we would do better simply to avoid standards-based reporting.16 I agree, although, as Linn also noted, we are unlikely to have this option: standards-based reporting is likely to be with us for some time.