Government and open source testing

Open source testing nearly eliminates the government's ongoing role in standardised testing. Once the legal criteria for establishing a governing board are established, there's no need for continuing government oversight. Since the tests are created and administered by the consumers, rather than the producers, there is no pressure to make schools look good (or bad), to make tests easier (or harder), or to raise scores arbitrarily (or lower them). The only pressure is for the governing boards to offer a test that is useful to themselves in discriminating between potential students and employees.

In this environment, test takers can vote with their feet. If there are competing governing boards in a subject, students can choose which they wish to take and schools which they wish to offer. If a governing board's test becomes out of date or irrelevant, they will simply collect less in examination fees until they update the test or abandon it. But since the test exists solely for the purpose of allowing the governing board (and other interested consumers) to evaluate test takers, their interest in maintaining an up to date and relevant test is intrinsic, rather than predicated solely on exam fees.