“In a 2008 survey, an overwhelming majority of researchers said that schools should be evaluated instead based on how much their students grow academically over time.” This mindset is a great flaw in modern day unwillingness to assess personal responsibility, to compare people and to acknowledge that people are different and life is not fair. If testing is flawed in assessing students then is it always flawed? I would say that it is always flawed. But we have tests for a reason. What about grading? Is grading always fair? Maybe kids should be graded on how much they have grown over a year not on how weak their tests and papers are compared to their classmates. What about the inherent biases of the person assessing how the students “grow over time”? There is a huge component of these studies that is inherently biased/political: look at Question 2 in Massachusetts and charter school initiatives in many states. I wont comment further as this is a smart bunch.