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I hate these assessment tests. Having done all my schooling through high school in Texas and having a mother who still works in the elementary system there I kn

I hate these assessment tests. Having done all my schooling through high school in Texas and having a mother who still works in the elementary system there I know that they like to focus largely on testable material, almost to the exclusion of everything else. Schools and teachers are judged very closely on how their students perform on standardized tests and so anything not on the test is generally given a cursory briefing if it's mentioned at all. I definitely like being able to measure things and see charts and graphs but this seems to be one of those things where the presence of these metrics has drastically altered the way the programs operate.

hexis 17y ago
"[T]his seems to be one of those things where the presence of these metrics has drastically altered the way the programs operate." I think this was actually the whole point.
- ryanelkins 17y ago
  My point is that I don't think that it is a good thing. Classes start to focus exclusively on underperforming students - which is good - but not to the exclusion of well performing students who need to be challenged as well. Of course, Texas is the state who (at one time at least) had the educational program that focused on "The Three Rs" (Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic). Ugh. And they wonder why the US is behind.
jimbokun 17y ago
"Having done all my schooling through high school in Texas and having a mother who still works in the elementary system there I know that they like to focus largely on testable material, almost to the exclusion of everything else." Are there any states where this is not the case?