Join National Campaign to Put Focus of Public Education on Student Learning
The average American student and teacher now spend about 30 percent of the school year preparing for and taking standardized tests. This is time that schools could use to achieve their primary purpose of educating students. Instead, they become nothing more than test factories.
American taxpayers send approximately $1.7 billion to the corporate standardized test companies. These funds could go toward educating our youngest learners. They could be spent ensuring students have access to arts, music, and physical education. They could be spent on 21st century technology and updated materials.
No group of students has been more harmed by the failure of high-stakes testing than those in low-income communities. We were all told that the barrage of standardized testing unleashed by No Child Left Behind was necessary to collect critical data on the most underserved students -- including students with disabilities and English language learners -- to help shine a light on educational gaps and drive programs that would boost achievement.
The sad truth is that test-based accountability has not closed the opportunity gaps between affluent and poor schools and students. It has not driven funding and support to the students from historically underfunded communities who need it most. It has not led to an expansion of curricular offerings, but rather a narrowing of them.
NCLB's promise has been proven hollow; its policies have failed.
Despite this failed experiment, the testing obsession continues. We are so addicted to testing that we are now giving students out-of-date standardized tests that are not aligned with what is currently being taught in class. I spent 23 years teaching math to students who were amazingly capable, smart, and perceptive. But even my best student was not omniscient. We simply cannot hold students accountable for material they have not been taught. This is not education. It's malpractice.
Adding insult to injury, students' test scores are used to evaluate teachers who did not Join National Campaign to Put Focus of Public Education on Student Learning | Dennis Van Roekel: