Posted on October 20, 2003

Education

Legislators and school administrators have increasingly turned to standardized tests to promote accountability in public school districts. To help parents better understand how such testing works and can impact their children's education, the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice has published the Parents' Guides to High Stakes Testing. Based on research from Arizona State University's Education Policy Study Laboratory, the guides provide general information about high-stakes testing and offer suggestions on what parents can do to support children and schools through the testing process. A general version of the guide (2 pages, PDF) is available in English and Spanish; six others include information specific to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. More information on the research behind the guides is also available on the Center's site.