Time for Feds To Come Clean on ‘Nation’s Report Card’ Tests

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?, a Latin phrase found in the work of the Roman poet Juvenal, is commonly used to refer to the problem of how one monitors the actions of persons in positions of power. It means literally:  Who will guard the guards? Example:  We don't know if we have a problem with the validity of the results of the so-called "Nation's Report Cards" or the extent of the problem (if there is one) because there is little transparency on the test development process.

Tests given by the National Assessment of Educational Progress have been funded by Congress since their inception in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Federal law since 2001 has required that all states give these tests, the results of which are often called "the nation's report cards," as part of No Child Left Behind. By law, they can be given only to a stratified random sample of students across each state in each subject, and since the early 1990s they have been given in two forms. The long-term tests began in the 1970s and were to remain unchanged so that trends could be detected.  The main tests began in the 1990s and could occasionally change to reflect changes in the curriculum.