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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Schools Matter: The brave new tests

Schools Matter: The brave new tests:

The brave new tests

Sent to the Baltimore Sun, Feb. 9

We should all “worry about overwhelming students, schools with tests” (2/7/12).

As the Sun points out, the new testing will be extremely time-consuming. There is no scientific evidence, however, that increasing the amount of testing done will increase student achievement.

As the Sun points out, the new tests need to be given online, and schools don’t have the technology needed to administer the tests. Not to worry, the test publishers and computer companies will be happy to sell it to them, as well as sell them costly new equipment as the old equipment rapidly becomes obsolete.

As the Sun points out, the tests will be used to evaluate teachers. Study after study, however, has shown that