Dive Brief:

• The Rhode Island chapter of ACLU, NAACP, and various other organizations have filed a petition with the state's Department of Education requesting public hearings on the tying of the PARCC standardized test to graduation requirements.
• Last year, the Rhode Island General Assembly decided to delay the use of PARCC scores as a graduation requirement until 2017.
• The ACLU is also taking issue with schools' ability to use PARCC scores in determining student grades beginning next school year, reports the Providence Journal.

Dive Insight:

What makes these plans difficult to assess is the fact that the nation at large still lacks any agreement on whether standardized tests are the best measure for student achievement. According to Anya Kamenetz's recent book, "The Test," states spend an average of about $27 per student on a test, which isn't much. Some argue that, like cheap fast food, these exams lack substance — which can be problematic when considering their use for graduation requirements or teacher evaluation.

Kamenetz spoke at the New America Foundation in February, discussing flaws in the nation's testing obsession, the lack of transparency around the content of high-stakes tests, and how they have become more punitive then diagnostic.