Testing dissidents: School leaders go public with their concerns over the harm of highstakes tests - education

School Administrator, Dec, 2001 by Paul Riede

Cala says he can go as far as he is going only because he has strong support from the school board and from an organized group of parents.

"I'm constantly asked why other superintendents don't speak out, and it's very clear why other superintendents don't speak out," he says. "The life expectancy of a superintendent is very short, and without the support of your school board you're entering dangerous waters."

Support from organized parents is in some ways even more important, says Kitto.

"I've pretty much accepted that no matter how loudly I shout, my voice probably isn't the right one," she says. "That's why I've really taken to working hard at educating my parents."

Frank Discussions

Grassroots protests by parents will be the deciding factor in turning around the high-stakes testing movement, predicts Monty Neill, executive director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, or FairTest, based in Cambridge, Mass. He says the anti-testing tide will peak if President Bush's plans for mandatory, nationwide testing begin to take effect.

"I think that will make it harder for schools to pay attention to anything other than test scores," Neill says. "I think that will fuel a much larger backlash than we're now seeing."

For Meier, that makes it all the more important for administrators to be frank with their governing boards and parents about how they view the exams--even as they continue to administer the exams to students.

"What administrators too often do is to think our job is to administrate things rather than to be spokespeople for what's good for education in our school," she says. "I think we have undersold the importance of our being actors in the debate. ... But we have an obligation to let people know where we stand."

Paul Riede is an education writer with the Syracuse, N.Y., Post-Standard.