RE: Exemptions to STAR and other standardized testing

Ze'ev Wurman writes: "To Nancy Barth:

You keep referring to standardized and criterion-referenced tests as opposites. They are not."

I don't believe I've written this anywhere.  They are much more alike than different. 

Ze'ev Wurman also writes (about tests that have incorrectly caused children to be retained and/or not graduate):
"Dredging testing mistakes from across a nation of over 250 milion people, and over many years, does not convince anyone except the innumerates. Frame it in context of error rates, compare it with error rates of subjective assessment, and you will see why."

I'm sure those thousands of students affected by these errors would feel differently.  

I've also seen examples like the one you posted on standardrized tests, too. Sometimes the language in a math question is so confusing, it is impossible to figure out what the question is asking, doubly so for second language learners. 

I guess my point is that standardized tests have become THE way to evaluate students and schools.  While I don't personally consider them to be of any lasting value, if they HAVE to be used, they should never be the only factor that decides the promotion or retention of a child.  This is happening in our country, and I hope the Master Plan for California will address this flaw.  There is so much more to our children than how well they perform on a standardized test.