Parents protest surge in standardized testing

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Parents protest surge in standardized testing

By Stephanie Simon
Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:16am EDT

(Reuters) - A backlash against high-stakes standardized testing is sweeping through U.S. school districts as parents, teachers, and administrators protest that the exams are unfair, unreliable and unnecessarily punitive - and even some longtime advocates of testing call for changes.

The objections come even as federal and state authorities pour hundreds of millions of dollars into developing new tests, including some for children as young as 5.

In a growing number of states, scores on standardized tests weigh heavily in determining whether an 8-year-old advances to the next grade with her classmates; whether a teen can get his high school diploma; which teachers keep their jobs; how much those teachers are paid; and even which public schools are shut down or turned over to private management.

Parents frustrated by the system say they're not against all standardized tests but resent the many hours their kids spend filling in multiple-choice bubbles and the wide-ranging consequence that poor scores carry. They say the testing regime piles stress on children and wastes classroom time. In elementary schools, they protest that a laser focus on the subjects tested, mostly math and reading, crowds out science, social studies and the arts. In high schools, they're fighting standardized exams that can determine a student's course grade in subjects from geometry to world history.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/12/us-usa-education-testing-idUSBRE85B0EO20120612

[antigop]

1. but look at how much money the testing companies are making! n/t

[Happyhippychick]

2. Welcome to No Child Left Behind

Bush fail

[Moonwalk]

3. About Friggin' Time! I Sympathize with the kids, not the parents, they should have protested this...

...from the start! It's a racket, pure and simple, thought up by George Bush and his cronies to make it look like he was pro-education and give all sort of money to testing companies. Yet another way to funnel tax payer's money into other's pockets while keeping it from where it really belongs--in the pockets of teachers, for example. Or into fixing up the school, ect.

Any quick and easy solution (just take a test!) is suspect and parents should have been suspect from day one. They weren't. And a whole crop of kids that went through years of this, are left cheated of a real education.

I'm glad the parents have finally woken up, but I'm pissed it took them this long to do so. It should have never gotten to this point.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Standardized exams should be used to collect data about cohorts, not individuals.

While individual results can be used to advise and plan, they should not be used for grades or other high-stakes outcomes. They are *statistical* data, and statistical data is useful for dealing with the *distribution* of outcomes, not specific cases.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Amen

[TBF]

5. Standardized tests have cost Texas $1.2B since 2000 -

Tests' price tag $90 million this year
Standardized tests cost $1.2 billion since 2000

Updated: Friday, 04 May 2012, 12:52 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 03 May 2012, 5:28 PM CDT

KXAN (AUSTIN) - It is testing time for Central Texas students required to pass the state's new standardized test to assess their academic readiness. And a battle over the entire testing system is brewing between the state, educators, parents and students.

Rising costs surrounding state exams has been one of the big talking points among testing critics.

http://www.kxan.com//dpp/news/investigations/staars-price-tag-90-million-this-year


This is who profits: https://www.pearsonaccess.com/cs/Satellite?pagename=Pearson/QuickLink/tx - ah, it's Pearson. Who is Pearson? Biggest textbook (and educational "services&quot company in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_PLC

http://www.pearson.com/ (and their share price is on the front page of their website, if there was any question about what motivates these fine capitalists ... )