Title: Opinion | How Useful Are Standardized Tests? - The New York Times
Headings: How Useful Are Standardized Tests?
Opinion
Letter
How Useful Are Standardized Tests?

Content: different measures can provide different kinds of information, offering more or less insight into the needs of a particular student or group of children. Information about student progress, including test results, should be readily available to parents and communities. Federal and state testing can be significantly less invasive than it is and still provide accountability. There’s no reason to require that all children in a state take the same standardized exams every year. MICHAEL V. McGILL
Morris, Conn.
The writer is director of the district leadership and reform program at Bank Street College of Education and former superintendent of schools in Scarsdale, N.Y.
To the Editor: Chad Aldeman praises standardized tests for allowing for “a much more nuanced look at student performance.” I’m a teacher, and the only thing I know about the test is what my students scored on it. We receive no feedback at all. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong as a teacher, or what I could do differently next year. My students don’t get that feedback either.