At the center of every serious discussion by parents or educators on the subject of testing is Math Curriculum K-12. Whatever your position, I think these resources will be of interest.

Phil Daro, now directing the Public Forum on School Accountability, spent six of his years on the University of California at Berkeley math faculty directing projects to help states develop standards. He was co-chair of the task force that revised California's Math Framework.

Here are the main points of what he called a "Draft Disarmament Treaty for the Math Wars":

"Students should learn to: add, subtract, multiply and divide integers, decimals and fractions accurately and efficiently without calculators; understand the mathematics they study; use the mathematics they know to solve problems with calculators and computers; be fluent with the symbolic language of algebra, and understand how to use the basic laws of algebra when solving mathematics problems; explain and justify their claims, and critically evaluate the reasoning of others.

"In addition: all students should have copies of basic instructional materials to take home. Math teachers should continue to learn mathematics throughout their lives. "Parents, teachers, mathematics educators, psychometricians, and research mathematicians must work together to solve the problems of American math education. Only then can we feel we've done our best to support our kids as they face the challenges of global competition."

Make sense? Apparently the full text of a paper he has written on this subject is available by calling the Public Forum at 510-208-0824.

A refreshing sample of other genuine thought on the subject is available for download from PACE, the Policy Analysis for California Education site at UC Berkeley (their section on elementary and secondary policy). There's a lot on this site that can provide parents with the relief of at least knowing there is intelligent discourse on the dilemmas we all live with. You won't want to miss, at least, these three items: "Assessing California's Accountability System: Successes, Challenges, and Opportunities for Improvement" - a PDF file; "Voices from the Field: Educators Respond to Accountability" - another PDF; and "Only the Politics Get an 'A'" - this one's in Microsoft WORD. See what you think.