I can speak primarily to my field, language arts, where instant recall of information is not really the key focus, especially in the middle and high school classroom. Do I really care if my students can recite a passage from Romeo and Juliet? Not really. But what I do want them to be able to do is read a passage from Romeo and Juliet and tell me what it means, or research how social and cultural norms affected the way Romeo and Juliet acted in the play. Would I rather them recite a definition of a metaphor? or use one properly in their own writing? I prefer the latter. In my classroom, we build critical thinking, problem solving, and research skills through language and literature. I rarely give actual 'tests' for this exact reason - what I want my kids to know isn't tangible, it isn't a nugget of information floating out in space for them to remember. I want them to learn skills. I want them to be able to take information, analyze it, synthesize it, recreate it, and communicate it in a new way. And most of the time, this type of skill can't be assessed on a traditional test.
Now, I will agree that some knowledge recall is important. In math, for example, every time I need to calculate a percentage it would not be reasonable for me to pull out my iPhone and look up the formula. So, my new answer to Edutopia's question is yes, sometimes it should be acceptable for students to access information on assessments. I changed their wording a little bit, because I also think that 'tests' is a loaded word: reminds me of multiple choice, fill in the blank, color in the little circle all the way type of tests. When we assess student knowledge, we are looking for what they know and what they are able to do - and sometimes, this means finding the right information (a skill all students need!) and being able to use that information to come to new conclusions. These are the skills we must be teaching our 21st Century learners.
By the way, the Edutopia poll yielded the following results:
