From the post
“has unleashed an unhealthy obsession with standardized testing that has reduced the time available for teaching other important subjects”
I have a boy in first grade and all the teachers, if you can get then to tell you what they think, hate the test. There is so many other things they FEEL they should be teaching your child.
The largest sign in the school says “Save the Planet recycle”
I think I know what the “other things” are.
DITTOS!!! The teacher that hate "teaching to the test" are misleading in 3 ways:
1. If they simply taught the curriculum, the test would take care of itself. This should be 'teaching to the curriculum'.
2. The schools teach to the test as a shortcut. They want to juice their numbers, they want kids to do well without covering curriculum. They dont HAVE to 'teach to the test', no student or parent is demanding it. They CHOOSE to do this for their own bureaucratic reasons.
3. The 'other stuff' the kids learn that the edu-crats think is 'so important' is the useless PC cr*p that no child should be assaulted with. In Texas here, they 'taught to the test' by making kids write essay after essay. I was thrilled, as it was the *only* challenging writing they were giving in 4th grade. Who knows what junk filler they would have had without it.
Summary: Dont ever buy the 'standardized testing is bad because it makes us teach to the test'. That is BUNK.
The “other things” contribute to the pathetic ignorance of public school victims.