Artificially inflated test scores will have negative consequences on students’ lives for years to come, writes commentator Andy Wolf in the GothamSchools community section. Wolf argues that easier tests mean that the city is promoting students who aren’t yet ready to move onto the next level, eventually leaving them unprepared for college and beyond.
He writes:
Just what do increased high school graduation rates mean when that diploma is a ticket to nowhere? What do the boasts of politicos about rising test scores along the way mean, when the improvements in the end product, the impact a child’s education has on his or her life, is still so disappointing? The state probably will make changes in the testing program, perhaps as early as next year, and parents of students will be told that their children, geniuses just last year, are suddenly not making the grade.