Other Resources

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) is an independent, bipartisan group whose members include governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member governing board in 1988 to set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as the "Nation's Report Card."

The Education Testing Service, the nation's largest testing service, administers the SAT, Advance Placement and PRAXIS tests for beginning teachers. It also conducts research into a variety of standards and assessment issues.

The Education Commission of the States' (ECS)  online database gives you a "real-time" snapshot of how your state is doing in meeting goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. ECS also offers background and information on a host of education issues, including accountability and teacher quality.

The National Conference of State Legislatures provides background on state accountability actions over the past three years.

Testing

"What Tests Can and Cannot Tell Us," the October 2002 edition of Test Talk for Leaders from the Center on Education Policy, explains the strengths and limitations of testing.

The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) works to end  abuses, misuses and flaws of standardized testing and to make certain that evaluation of students and workers is fair, open and educationally sound. FairTest’s Web site includes a wide range of resources on K-12 and university testing for teachers, administrators, students, parents and researchers.

The National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy at Boston College recently asked thousands of teachers from across the nation how they think high-stakes tests are affecting teaching and learning. The majority reported that there is so much pressure for high scores on state-mandated tests that they have little time to teach anything not covered on the test.

The Consortium for Policy Research in Education's Web site contains a database with a detailed description of each state's testing and accountability programs.

The Center for Research and Evaluation on Student Standards and Testing is a federally funded center for research and information on student testing and accountability.

Teacher Quality

The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) has done a number of studies on the relationship between teacher quality and student achievement. The landmark report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future (1996) (, PDF, 46 pp.), calls for teacher licensure based on testing and demonstration, reinventing preparation and professional development programs, and organizing schools to focus on teacher quality and student achievement.

NCTAF also released Solving the Dilemmas of Teacher Supply, Demand, and Standards: How We Can Ensure a Competent, Caring, and Qualified Teacher for Every Child (2000) ( PDF, 43 pp.), which calls for raising teacher standards and equalizing salaries between lower and upper income districts, establishing licensure reciprocity agreements among states, providing incentives for National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification, and providing scholarships in teacher shortage fields.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is an independent board that sets rigorous standards for what teachers should know and be able to do and offers voluntary national certification for accomplished teachers.

The Education Testing Service's (ETS) study  Academic Quality of Prospective Teachers: The Impact of Admissions and Licensure Testing (May 1999) ( PDF, 46 pp.) found that teachers in academic subject areas have academic skills that are equal to or higher than those of the larger college graduate population.

The Relationship Between Standards and Resources

ETS's recent report  An Uneven Start: Indicators of Inequality in School Readiness (March 2002) ( PDF, 77 pp.) found that children start kindergarten with different levels of reading and mathematics skills that are often related to gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic level and age.

The Public Education Network is engaged in an initiative in five sites that include communitywide efforts and state-level advocacy to ensure the allocation of resources so that all children have the support they need to achieve at high levels.