Opposition to state testing comes from the far left and the far right. It comes from parents who don’t want their kids to feel like failures, or who are happy with their schools and don’t see a need for improvement. And, of course, it comes from the teacher’s union, which opposes accountability measures. 

But here’s what this issue boils down to. If you’re interested in racial equality, you have to go for the PARCC, imperfect as it may be. Why? Because it’s the only game in town — and if we’re going to have any hope of closing the achievement gap between poor, minority kids and their wealthier peers, we need this data to do it.