; and (B) test-based accountability has not improved equity in public schools. (2) According to the National Education Association, there is a nationwide shortage of 300,000 teachers and school staff. (3) According to the 2022 report of the American Federation of Teachers Teacher and School Staff Shortage Task Force titled Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? , reducing the frequency of standardized testing and empowering teachers to use authentic assessments that measure what students know and can do is a critical component to addressing the nationwide teacher shortage. (4) Research published by the National Academies Press shows that summative assessments are appropriate for curriculum and in-school accountability but are not appropriate when used as a dominant factor in making high-stakes decisions and can undermine the quality of education and equality of opportunity. (5) The peer-reviewed Research in Middle Level Education Journal published a study in 2017 showing that State standardized test results are strongly influenced by non-school factors and that standardized test results cannot capture the complexities of the influence of middle level administrators may have on the lives of students. Nevertheless, the use of State standardized test results drove school administrator evaluations in more than 40 States. (6) More than 1,185 accredited, four-year colleges and universities removed ACT and SAT test score requirements for prospective applicants for the Fall 2022 semester. (7) According to a sum of mean science, reading, and mathematics scores from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (in this Act referred to as PISA ) results for 2018, the United States ranked 22nd out of participating countries. In mathematics, the United States ranked 36th out of the 79 participating countries and regions, which was below the international average. Throughout the high-stakes accountability era, standardized test scores in the United States have remained flat. (8) Even before the COVID–19 pandemic began, progress