Hope someone on the list can help out. Thanks!
Former teacher, I never minded standardized tests, because I taught the things that standardized tests look at. If your idea of teaching is to teach political correctness or revised history, or your own version of how America is messed up, then standardized tests will "out you".
The teacher who dislikes taking a day/week for standard testing have several things to complain about:
1. I lose the class time for this audit when I could be doing something so much better.
2. I lose my reputation as a good teacher because some of my peers "teach to the test", which I think means they prepare students by giving them example questions from old tests. (Using the questions on a standard test before it is given to the students to ensure success should be a firing offense.)
The first arguement is bogus because we all need a standard auditing device to "test for understanding". When this is done across a state, it identifies weak teachers and schools, and when it repeats year after year it indicates a problem. This is the idea behind the standard testing of NCLB.
The second arguement is also weak because the standard test represents what a student should learn. (We are all familiar with educational objectives.) So once we agree the test is the right information, why not have all classes make sure the material is covered? Does it have to include questions like past standard tests? Yes that would be a good idea so kids are not confused by a type of question. Does this mean this is all a teacher has to do? No, class time has to become interesting for education to happen. Teachers are challenged to make the material covered by standard tests as interesting and relevant as possible. (This is where a teacher can bring in some outside material, for relevance, not for brain washing.)
As the one requesting this info, I would like to add that I spoke recently with a CTA (California Teacher's Association) representative regarding the NEA's 2001 position on NCLB. She told me that in 2001, the NEA was "neutral" on NCLB, but that the CTA was strongly against it, feeling it would create a financial and popular backlash against public schools.
My instructor, who was originally an English teacher, seemed to become distressed and defensive after I emailed him (and a few others in the class, but separately) "Harrison Bergeron." Oh well...