Principal to parents: ‘We don’t need to get used to this. We need to stop it.’

Absolutely, but I haven't seen one yet. Not many people would complain about a single test to measure students, but that isn't what happens. We have a huge testing regiment. Keep in mind that note of these can be incorporated in a grade.There are

  1. Mid-quarter tests
  2. Regular quarterly tests
  3. Regular Semester tests

these are meant to be for my own assessment of students, but they are poorly made and reveal nothing. They take 1-2 classes to complete. A recent district survey revealed that about 90% of teachers found them useless, but about 90% of administrators loved them. On top of these, I have to give my own tests to assess my students and use as a grade.

Additionally we have:

  1. Math Benchmark Testing x2
  2. History Benchmark Testing x2
  3. Science Benchmark Testing x2
  4. English Benchmark Testing x2
  5. PSAT testing
  6. PACT testing
  7. Math EOC testing
  8. History EOC testing
  9. Science EOC testing
  10. English EOC testing
  11. SAT day
  12. ACT day
  13. ESL language testing
  14. ESL writing test
  15. AP Mock Exams
  16. Actual AP tests

A couple of these overlap. The Freshman second round of benchmarks generally gets done at the same time as AP mock exams, but for the most part these are complete days lost to testing. I should also mention that I am not in a common core state. These are the tests that would be in addition to the CC tests (or possibly in place of EOC).

Additionally, the review of the data is exceptionally low level. I mean pick the high number, pick the low level type of reviews. Admins often want to place a great weight on these tests for both the review of teachers, despite the lack of evidence supporting it. So while most would be fine with creating a great tests, refining a great test, and implementing a great test, that is not likely to happen. What will likely happen is that a bad test will be over paid for and be implemented without question based on its cost and only later will we know if it is any good. And as you can see, the actual teaching of material will get further squeezed by continuous, often meaningless, assessment.

/r/education Thread Link - ashingtonpost.com