CB> CB> testing 
CB> CB> only finds defects.
CB> 
CB>  MS>     Every other producer tests its product before 
CB>  MS> selling it, be the product cars or computers.  
CB> 
CB> How often does your client give you a test?
    Every time they don't fire me!
    Most all of my clients are businesses that hire me on a more-or-less 
continuing basis to deal with their continuing bad-debt problems.  If the 
client (fairly or unfairly) thinks I'm not a good enough lawyer, I'm fired.
CB>  MS>     Exit tests could build public and employer 
CB>  MS> confidence in public education by convincing the 
CB>  MS> public and employers that a kid who got a HS 
CB>  MS> degree actually _retained_ some of what he once 
CB>  MS> learned.
CB> 
CB> So, why not drop tests and develop portfolios, projects, etc as exit 
CB> requirements.  What the student is capable of doing will be far more 
CB> evident than a test that any dummy can score 25% without knowing 
CB> anything.
    Portfolios are not something the public (or employers) can use to make 
_broad_ evaluations of whether a school or district is doing well, improving, 
or going downhill.  They're suited only to evaluating students on an 
individual basis.
    Portfolios are also less likely to be used to evaluate the whole of a 
student's HS work as of a time near graduation, because evaluation takes 
longer than to grade a standardized test.  For this reason, portfolios are 
typically used at the end of the course, and show little about knowledge 
_retained_ near graduation (up to 3 years later).
--- Simplex BBS (v1.07.00Beta [DOS])
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