Education Sector Launch Event

State standards and standardized tests have become dominant forces in American public schooling under NCLB. The law's test-based accountability system has given local educators powerful incentives to help students whom public education has long neglected. But the scale of the NCLB testing requirements, competitive pressures in the testing industry, a shortage of testing experts, insufficient state resources, tight regulatory deadlines, and a lack of meaningful oversight of the sprawling NCLB testing enterprise are undermining NCLB's pursuit of higher academic standards. Statewide testing, envisioned under NCLB as a key part of the solution to what ails public schools, is fast becoming part of the problem in public education.

At its formal launch Education Sector released of Margins of Error: The Education Testing Industry in the No Child Left Behind Era, a ground-breaking report by Education Sector Co-director Thomas Toch about the impact of NCLB's ambitious testing requirements on the states, the testing industry, and the nation's students. The event featured a short presentation of Margins of Error, followed by an important and interactive discussion with state testing directors and testing industry leaders, moderated by Lynn Olson, senior editor at Education Week.

This discussion featured:
Thomas Toch, Co-director, Education Sector

Andrew Rotherham, Co-director, Education Sector

Kelley Carpenter, Director of Communications, McGraw-Hill Assessment and Reporting

H. Gary Cook, Research Scientist, Center for Education Reform, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sharron Hunt, Director of Testing, Georgia Department of Education

Lynn Olson, Senior Editor, Education Week (moderator)