Bruce F. Vento: “Mr. Chairman, this bill seems to follow in the footsteps of Forrest Gump. That is that it seems to be in a state of…”

“Mr. Chairman, this bill seems to follow in the footsteps of Forrest Gump. That is that it seems to be in a state of denial. I am not qualified to participate in this debate, because I have taken educational measurement courses and have taught secondary school for about 10 years and I do not find much of a discussion that is connected to the real world of education or testing. I think maybe following the logic in this bill we ought to ban all testing, because they are imperfect instruments. And the issues being raised in terms of problems are not unique. In fact, there is a body of knowledge that for 100 years has gone on with educational measurement that has tried to address these issues and perfect the ability to utilize reliable and valid instruments. Mr. Chairman, I commend Members of Congress for taking this on in a few hours today in resolving this problem in favor of not having banning national tests. That way nobody will know what they are receiving and whether or not they are attaining the educational goals and we will all be happier for it; just like the character Forrest Gump.”