For the past 20 years, debates about public education have been dominated by standardized tests, but the emphasis on standardized tests in education rests on a set of false assumptions, explains Joshua Starr. First is the technocratic assumption that collecting the right data will naturally lead to the right kinds of improvements. Second, testing as currently performed assumes that mathematics and English language arts are the most essential domains of knowledge and skill. Starr encourages education leaders to end the practice of requiring standardized tests for every student in every grade and instead use sampling and multiple measures to gauge performance and areas for improvement.

约书亚·斯塔尔（Joshua Starr）解释说，在过去的20年中，关于公共教育的争论一直以标准化测试为主导，但是对教育中标准化测试的强调却基于一系列错误的假设。首先是技术专家的假设，即收集正确的数据自然会导致正确的改进。其次，当前进行的测试假设数学和英语语言艺术是知识和技能的最重要领域。斯塔尔（斯塔尔）鼓励教育领导们结束对每个年级的每个学生都要求标准化考试的做法，取而代之的是使用抽样和多种手段来衡量绩效和改进领域。