The New York Performance Standards Consortium, an alliance of 28 public high schools, is using a different kind of test to evaluate students. Students at these schools take performance-based assessments instead of standardized tests in all areas except for language arts. This small change, asking students to write essays and research papers, do science experiments, and create applied math problems rather than answer multiple choice questions, is having a big impact. The schools in the program have cut dropout rates in half, and the number of students who head to college after graduation has skyrocketed.

One top-notch alternative is conducted by the New York Performance Standards Consortium, an alliance of 28 public high schools. Schools in the Consortium use performance-based assessments in place of standardized exams, except the English Language Arts test. The performance assessments are used for graduation and accountability, including NCLB.

A recent consortium report, Education for the 21st Century, shows that performance-based assessment works well for the types of students that test-driven “reforms” are supposed to benefit but so often fail. The student population of the consortium’s 26 public schools located in New York City mirrors the city’s student body. They have nearly identical shares of blacks, Latinos, English language learners and students with disabilities. However, the consortium dropout rate is half that of New York City public schools. Graduation rates for all categories of students are higher than for the rest of New York City, while consortium rates for English Language Learners and students with disabilities are nearly double the city’s.

In 2011, 86% of African American and 90% of Latino male graduates of Consortium schools were accepted to college. National averages are only 37% and 43%, respectively. Ninety-three percent of consortium grads remain enrolled in four-year colleges after the first two years, compared with an average of 81% nationally. Yet, consortium students are far more likely to be low-income than the U.S. average. Consortium schools also have far lower rates of student suspension, but far higher rates of teacher retention, compared with other New York City schools, including charters.