In reply to Harold Jarche » A few good books. Student Bill of Rights (for tests)As Mcluhan's laws of media state, for every new technology there is a tetradic effect, one which is the retrieval of an older technology. Maybe it's time to retrieve provincial exams, but using the knowledge we have on evaluation. For instance, we could incorporate some the test-related components of Roger Schank's student bill of rights

Testing : No student should have to take a multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank test.

Real-Life Skills: No student should be have to learn somethingthat fails to relate to a skill that is likely to be required in life after school.

Memorization: No student should be required to memorize any information that is likely to be forgotten in six months.

Clarity of Goals: No student should be required to take a course, the results of which are not directly related to a goal held by the student, nor to engage in an activity without knowing what he can expect to gain from that activity.

Passivity: No student should be required to spend time passively watching or listening to anything unless there is a longer period of time devoted to allowing the student to participate in a corresponding active activity.

Arbitrary Standards: No student should be required to prepare his work in ways that are arbitrary or to jump through arbitrary hoops defined only by a particular teacher and not by the society at large.

Mastery: No student should be required to continue to study something he has already mastered.

Discovery: No student should be asked to learn anything unless there is the possibility of his being able to experiment in school with what he has learned.

Defined Curriculum: No student should be barred from engaging in activities that interest him within the framework of school because of breadth requirements imposed by the curriculum.

Freedom Of Thought: No student should be placed in a position of having to air his views on a subject if the opposing point of view is not presented and equally represented.