High Season For Testing Snafus

Accountability sought in testing industry Washington Times
Student testing, from Head Start to college, is a massive, $2 billion a year national undertaking these days. With problems stalking the mushrooming business of school tests, a growing chorus of students and parents is seeking industry accountability.

Firm's Error Gave 14 Alabama Schools The Wrong Status (AP)
A scoring error by a standardized testing company changed accountability reports for 14 Alabama schools, putting four on probation when they actually met their goals for reading and math.

All hail the SAT snafu (Salon)
The latest SAT scoring errors present a wonderful natural experiment. By going back to previous years and rescoring exams to detect any scoring errors, one could essentially perform the same experiment with no intentional harm done. Did the kids who had artificially low scores, thereby getting into their second or third choice for college, rather than their first, do worse in their later outcomes? Or did they perform better at these schools than would have been predicted by the (false) test results?

The Fall of the Standard-Bearers Chronicle of Higher Education
Useful lessons from Diane Ravitch on the history of the College Board ($$)