Re: Test Takers Bill of Rights

["Dr. William C. Cala, Ed.D." <wcala@SERVTECH.COM>]

Test Takers Bill of RightsRandy,

Looks good.  What are the odds of this surviving?


Bill Cala
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Randy Bomer 
  To: ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU 
  Sent: Monday, September 03, 2001 2:32 PM
  Subject: Test Takers Bill of Rights


  Hi, all.  NCTE is working on a Test Takers Bill of Rights, and I wanted to get some feedback on a draft I've put together.  Let me know if I've said anything in a way that just doesn't make sense, or if there's anything that you think is missing here. There is some overlap in these rights, but I think that's OK, since stated separately, things mean differently.  Remember, these are the rights of the test TAKER.  I appreciate any help you can give right away, since I'm supposed to get these in tomorrow (!).  There will be a preamble, and then this list of rights:

  Curriculum
  The right to experience a challenging curriculum that is not constrained or disrupted by any given test; 

  The right to have their learning assessed only in the language in which they think, learn, and communicate most proficiently;

  The right to arrange accommodations for documented learning differences and/or unforeseeable circumstances;

  The right to be spend at least as much time learning concepts, skills, dispositions, and disciplines that cannot easily be tested as those that can be;

  The right to have curriculum and assessments developed or modified locally, to ensure the most logical fit among the curriculum, the learners¹ experiences, and the assessments.

  Representation
  The right to a fuller understanding of their own progress as learners than is afforded by test scores;

  The right to have their growth represented to parents and the public in a richer, more accurately descriptive way than a test score affords;

  The right to represent their own growth over multiple years of school work.

  The right to be represented only in terms of their own learning and performance (criterion referencing), not in comparison to other test takers (norm referencing);

  The right to have standards and cut scores, where such instruments are used, be determined by expert classroom teachers of the grade level to which they apply, and to have cut scores remain stable once they are established;

  The right of parents and legal guardians to opt out of testing on behalf of their minor children without negative consequences for the learner;

  The right of high school students to opt out of standardized testing on their own behalf without negative consequences for the learner;

  The right to display competencies through various means and to have scores on tests be used for important decisions only in conjunction with other assessments that may compensate for low performance on a particular test;

  Public
  The right to be certain that standardized tests to which I am accountable have been adopted through an open, public process 

  The right to be certain that the public process of test adoption considers the design and appropriateness of the test to the standards and curriculum to be tested; 

  The right to submit only to assessments and consequences thereof which are also administered to the public officials who impose them on students

  The right to know before the test date what specific item types will be included on this test form; 

  The right to understand how the results of the test will be used; 

  The right to receive their scores within eight weeks after taking a test;

  The right to know how individual items were scored on their own tests, including which items were counted incorrect and how items were weighted;

  The right to see the entire test form released to the public after administration and reporting of scores;

  The right to an open process reviewing test items and aggregated and disaggregated results;

  The right to challenge test scores and have them changed if they are incorrect;

  The right to appeal scoring of individual items;

  The right to a process that corrects tests and/or individual items found to be invalid or unreliable.