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Editorial: Who is testing the testers?

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 | 7:10 a.m.

Nevada's schools experienced so many grading errors on standardized tests in the years 2002 through 2004 that the state Board of Education dumped its contractor for the job and hired another one.

The problem is national and has reached the point that The New York Times reported in a recent article that students, parents and college and high school officials are asking: Who is watching the testing industry?

Testing has increased dramatically under the No Child Left Behind law, and the increase is "taxing the testing industry's ability to draw up enough tests and score them quickly and reliably," the Times reported.

One proposed solution was to establish an oversight board, one that would audit the performance of testing companies and set standards and regulations for the whole $2 billion industry. Currently, the testing companies are totally independent.

We believe this solution is worth a try. Preferably the testers would form their own accountability panel. But with the federal government mandating so many tests, and with so much riding on accurate results, it should step in if the private sector defaults on this responsibility.

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