While waiting for the release of standardized state test scores, due out in August, parents may want to read a provocative piece written by conservative pundit Sol Stern in the latest edition of  City Journal. In Can New York Clean up the Testing Mess?, Stern raises questions of test score inflation and takes a critical look at current testing practices.

Stern, who writes frequently about education reform, lauds Meryl Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents, for forcing the state to submit to an outside audit of the reading and math tests. Stern says a memorandum of understanding between the state and Harvard professor Daniel Koretz, gives "Koretz access to the data that he’ll need to determine whether New York’s test scores have been inflated".

Stern charges that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, by mandating testing of all students and demanding that all become "proficient" by the year 2014, "left the door wide open for massive test inflation."

He explores the question of how "cut scores" -- the minimum score for each of four achievement levels -- are set. If cut points are set high, student achievement will appear to drop; if set low, achievement will appear to rise. He notes that few students scored at the lowest level (1) on state tests in 2009, leading to charges that state tests had become easier to pass.

(This year, preliminary 2010 cut scores released to principals in June, showed that far more students scored at the lowest level, requiring them to attend summer school.)

What about the Regents exams for high school students? Those too, Stern says, have been "dumbed down." Former CUNY education school dean and math professor, Alfred Posamentier told him that the high school algebra exam  is no longer "very challenging" and "requires a student to answer only about 35 percent of the questions correctly to earn a passing grade."

Stern recommends that teachers no longer be able to grade their own students Regents exams. And, among other suggestions, he thinks the state should impose a moratorium on granting bonuses to principals and teachers based on students'  test scores, at least until the audit of the tests by Koretz has been completed.

Parents and teachers concerned about testing and the integrity of current assessments may want to take a break from beach books and give the articlea read.  Please share your thoughts and recommendations in comments below!