Sunday, June 10, 2012

High Stakes Tests Good for Kids and Taxpayers? This Parent NOT Buying it ! -Response to Tampa Bay Times « Continuing Change

High Stakes Tests Good for Kids and Taxpayers? This Parent NOT Buying it ! -Response to Tampa Bay Times « Continuing Change:


High Stakes Tests Good for Kids and Taxpayers? This Parent NOT Buying it ! -Response to Tampa Bay Times

My response to Tampa Bay Times article entitled, “FCAT Pressure Help Students and Teachers to Achieve” :
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This parent disagrees. You write, “But parents? You are the consumers here. You should insist not only that the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test continues to be administered but that there’s a lot on the line when it is. Because look what it has done to guarantee you get what your taxes pay for — kids prepared for work or college.” 
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No, we parents/taxpayers do not see that. We see valuable class time (nearly 1/3 of a typical school year by much estimation) spent in standardized testing, test prep, test remediation, test validation, etc. We see an exorbitant amount of our taxpaying dollars spent ($250 million dollars to Pearson) paying