High-stakes testing need not be terrible. You just have to be careful:<p>1. High-stakes testing requires exam security. One must assume that the teachers and administrators, if rated on student performance, will assist cheating.<p>2. High-stakes testing should be spread out across the year, with the result being a running average that discards the low values. (sickness and other bad luck should not be punished) Instead of a week or two of solid testing, do an hour every other week.<p>3. Tests should not come from companies that sell textbooks. This is a conflict of interest. It&#x27;s not good to have an incentive to use non-standard terminology to give an advantage to schools which purchase the matching book.<p>4. If you can&#x27;t test something, and you don&#x27;t mandate hours for it, it will be removed from the schedule. Ideally you&#x27;d test for everything, but testing some subjects (band, shop) is difficult. The hours must be mandated to protect the untestable subjects.<p>5. You get what you test for. (see #4 above) High-quality tests are a must. It shouldn&#x27;t be practical to cram for a test.