The "need" for standardized testing

Arne Duncan, in support of keeping federal testing requirements for standardized testing:  "I believe parents, and teachers and students have both the right and the absolute need to know how much progress all students are making each year towards college and career readiness,"  

http://news.yahoo.com/education-secretary-says-backs-annual-testing-144527975--politics.html

If you are a teacher and you need a standardized test to know how much progress your students are making, you are in the wrong profession, as Arne Duncan obviously is.  If you are a parent, and you need a standardized test to know how your child is doing, you don't trust teachers, as Arne Duncan doesn't. 

(For some evidence of the value of teacher judgments (grades) in predicting college success, see studies cited in: Krashen, S. 2008. The fundamental principle: No unnecessary testing (NUT).  The Colorado Communicator vol 32,1. Page 7, 2008; posted at: http://skrashen.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-fundamental-principle-no-unnecessary.html)

See how they do it in Finland: http://lessonsfromabroad.tumblr.com/post/35845971469/standardized-tests-a-foreign-concept-in-finland