Testing

Testing has become a major issue at all levels. I do not understand why our students need to take 3 and 4 standardized tests in a matter of a couple weeks. Although SLOs may not impact a student's grade many students take it seriously and stress over it. This also places even more pressure on teachers because they are not allowed to incentivize students to do well on it since it only counts towards a teacher's evaluation, not the student's performance.

I totally understand that NCLB was approved in order to hold teachers accountable; however it may be getting out of hand. Overemphasizing testing is only causing students to have panic attacks, for teachers to teach to the test, students to hate school if they score low, and undermining the quality of work teachers are doing on a daily basis. How about moving towards the use of multiple indicators that truly reflects student achievement rather than one test that overstresses everyone?

According to an article on NPR Ed, by Anya Kamenetz, "districts showed students taking an average of 113 standardized tests between pre-K and grade 12, with 11th grade the most tested". All these tests are taking valuable time away instructional time. The only glimmer of change I have seen thus far is the approval of House Bill 91, which eliminates the Georgia High School Graduation Tests. We need to do something about giving students duplicate tests.

"Testing: How Much Is It Too Much?"