Diversity, Assessment, and Equity in Educational Reform

This chapter focuses on the equity issues inherent in the use of performance assessment, particularly in its use as an instrument of educational reform. The interest in performance assessment represents nothing less than a grass-roots rebellion against an assessment system that has made little sense to most of its users. The advocacy for performance assessment extends well beyond its usefulness as an improved source of educational information. Performance assessment is being advocated because it is thought to be a powerful tool of educational reform. Many proponents believe that performance assessment, when used as a direct reform instrument for accountability purposes, will motivate teachers and students toward higher achievement (Baron, 1990; Mitchell, 1992). This belief is rooted in the idea that students and teachers will direct their attention to assessments that have clear consequences for performance. In the last two years, partly as the result of the report of the National Council on Education Standards and Testing (1992), performance assessment has often been paired with reforms of the goals and content of schooling, and advocated as the concrete means by which to assess the attainment of challenging, content-based standards (Resnick & Tucker, 1991).