I'm a parent of a recent college grad and high school senior. Both of my girls went to a “good” public school in an semi-affluent neighborhood. They take stand

I'm a parent of a recent college grad and high school senior. Both of my girls went to a “good” public school in an semi-affluent neighborhood. They take standardized tests for two weeks each year. Or at least the calendar is blocked from real work those two weeks. And once done the rest of the school year is time wasting. So lots of wasted time just for the administration and post test taking. Teachers routinely complain (in private) about teaching to the tests. And yet there are glimmers of hope: Project based learning in school and after school can make a difference. While not exactly the same thing, challenge based learning, is making a difference in a few school districts across the county as well https://www.challengebasedlearning.org/pages/welcome https://www.challengebasedlearning.org/pages/welcome. My girls participated in FIRST Robotics http://www.usfirst.org/ http://www.usfirst.org/ starting with First Lego League (FLL) and advancing through First Tech Challenge (FTC) and then to First Robotics Competition (FRC). The best part of these programs is that it is so much more than STEM. They learn how to solve real world like problems, do marketing, run the business of the team, work in teams, learn about robot design, programming and more. As a volunteer in FIRST for now ten (10) plus years, I have witnessed it transform the lives of more than a hundred kids. There are other similar programs like VEX, which I know little about, but support in concept. http://www.vexrobotics.com/ http://www.vexrobotics.com/ The biggest challenge with these programs is funding and penetrating the underserved schools. Of course in the underserved school if kids are hungry then not much else matters. The same could be said for kids that can’t get to after school programs for the many reasons that exist like both parents working, the need to take care of siblings and more. In my state (Virginia), state legislators and the head of the department of education are starting to take notice of the impact of FIRST robotics on outcomes and are talking about funding underserved school programs. Many robotics team has been lobbying at the state and federal level for just this cause including my daughter’s team. So maybe next year some funding will be allocated. In my hometown, Richmond, VA. there seems to be enough passion among adults that volunteers can be found to staff more programs for project based learning. We are also starting to see interest and some action for building and staffing makerspaces in schools and libraries. This is very exciting since small projects are also valuable for learning and more affordable. We need makerspaces across k12 and into colleges and universities. While none of the above fixes the teach to the test problem, or the socioeconomic gradient issues, they at least help in some little ways.