There are strong advocates building a sense of need for teacher accountability which translates almost entirely into scores and standardized testing. (Kohn, 2ooo) I maintain that there are pluses and minuses, like anything, with standardized tests. (My review of Kohn's text.) Standardized tests are tools. It is up to teachers to use them correctly, and educate others as to their limitations. I have developed several assessments that you can view by clicking these links: alphabet assessment (that records letter recognition, sounds, tracking), and one for number recogition and one to one counting. I compiled them into a spreadsheet that Word uses mail merge to produce letters to the parents.
With respects to the diversification of classrooms, there are many sites available where teachers can obtain scientifically based resources. One such site is the Equity Index (2ooo), which has a number of resources available which are grouped by many topics such as specific cultures like Native Americans, diseases like asthma, and gender, male or female. Another helpful site was Teaching Diversity. One text that I found particulalry helpful was Life in Public Schools (McLaren, 1989). In particular the book enlightened me to "hidden curriculum", that is the things we subconsciously teach our students.
One key idea that I never thought of was expectations. Teachers need to communicate their expectations explicilty to the students they are testing. (Ormrod, 2oo8)
McLaren, p. (1989). Life in schools:An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education. White Plains, NY; Longman, Inc.
Ormod, J. E. (2oo8) Human Learning 5th Edition. Upper Saddle, New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Kohn, A. (2ooo). The case against standardized testing: Raising the scores, ruining the schools. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Short, K., & Burke, C. (1991). Creating curriculum; Teachers and students as a community of learners. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann Educational Books, Inc.
University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning. (2oo7). Offical DIBELS Home Page. Retrieved July 1st, 2oo8 from http://dibels.uoregon.edu/.