They teach the very specific facts and steps necessary to correctly answer the very narrow range of questions they know will be on the tests. They do not teach

They teach the very specific facts and steps necessary to correctly answer the very narrow range of questions they know will be on the tests. They do not teach critical thinking, research skills, or fundamental concepts. Doing so would risk an unacceptably high failure rate. They must drill the precise information necessary to pass the test into every student, no matter their relative intelligence, language skills, or medical conditions, because it would be catastrophic to their careers to have students fail. For seven hours each day, children in need of everything from individualized, therapist-aided teaching methods to nothing more than "here's a library, go nuts" are packed into overcrowded classrooms and drilled on the same crap. Look at that Grade 8 New York test. Realize that is being given to 12-13 year olds. Realize I could have gotten 80% of it right in 4th grade at a school where a few slower kids didn't risk the career of their teacher. This is what standardized testing does.