Washpost.com | Preschoolers' Test May Be Suspended

Since 2003, children in U.S. Head Start compensatory preschool programmes have given standardised tests in autumn and spring to assess their progress. After nearly 4 years of criticism regarding both the tests and their implementation, Congress is now taking steps to cease the testing programme. Prior to 2003, children's progress (or lack thereof) was measured locally, which makes more sense since the programmes (their curriculum and methods) are at least in part locally-determined. As Samuel Meisels, renowned opponent of high-stakes testing, is quoted in this article as saying, young children are notoriously poor test takers anyway. Add that to problems with the tests themselves (i.e. developmental inappropriateness) and irregularities in their implementation (foiling attempts at standardisation), and you get a recipe for disaster.