Matthew DiCarlo, the lead author of the Shanker Blog, is a smart social scientist who analyzes research and data with care, never with ideology or an axe to grind.
We have had one area of disagreement in recent years. I have become sick of the misuse of testing, I no longer believe in test-based accountability. Matt sees value in testing and accountability.
Today he has a blog that is very powerful on this very subject. He calls it “Assessing Ourselves to Death.” Read it.
It is outstanding.
I couldn’t have said it better myself (although he still leaves some room for test-based accountability, while I still maintain that TBA is unworthy and creates perverse incentives for score inflation, cheating, curriculum narrowing, etc., all of which destroy educational values).
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Excellent article. Thanks.
Bob Nolte
Senior Associate
C: 860-463-0794
bnolte@schlechtycenter.org
Great post. I think it gets to the intellectual bankruptcy of our whole academic meritocratic establishment. The system of testing and promotion that we have created over the past 120 years or is devouring itself.
It’s time to return to a real liberal arts education.
My statistical training in college left me with overriding thoughts on the issue of using test scores. Pollsters, who concern about accuracy takes a back seat to reported error factors, generally agree that a statistical set of 400+ scores is needed to begin to make inferences about correlations and causality. The larger the statistical set is, the lower the error factor and the more likely we are to have data that can lead to correlations and/or causality. This concept rules out the professional and practical application of test scores to judging teachers, a grade level in a school, and in many cases most schools. It doesn’t rule out making inferences about school districts, county school systems, state school systems, etc. In Washington state, our testing system was originally designed to take the pulse of the entire state system. Things went off the tracks when a group of legislators decided it would be a good idea to make passage of the test a graduation requirement. From that point on, all bets were off.
Words of wisdom from a good down-home Texas boy. John wrote an article several weeks ago. Sandy Krees (of Texas testing fame) just couldn’t resist crawling out from under his rock. He posted a retort on the Sunday that Diane spoke to school boards in Texas. Here’s John’s answer, another volley in the coming revolution “Remember The Children”
http://johnyoungcolumn.blogspot.com/2012/10/for-schools-spring-coming.html
I’d say he’s a little behind the curve in saying, “Whoopsie! We might have taken this testing thing too far.” Yah think? There is no doubt that we have taken it too far, and we don’t need someone to perform a statistical analysis of that fact. Sometimes we don’t need to study or research the obvious.