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I'm not against testing, in fact I'm for it. I believe in all the tests that teachers have to take in this state to get their credentials too.
What I am against is these people taking shots at teachers who bust their butts to take undereducated kids and bring them to a predetermined level.
My wife had 4 new kids in her 6th grade class last year who had never been in a school in this country and who didn't speak a word of English. Test time is going to be fun for them. We are both bilingual by absolute necessity.
The other thing I'm against is parents who do not, will not help their children with their homework. The teacher will get blamed at the end of the year when Junior can't spell. As far as I'm concerned the parents of any child who does not turn all of their homework every week should be forced to sweep the hauls for an hour or two. We do unpaid tutoring at our home 4 evenings a week and usually for a few hours on Sat. for those kids whose parents can not help them with their studies. There are homework clubs after school run by certified teachers. After all of this extra help, there are still those kids who never do or turn in their homework or study spelling words. There are some parents who really need fired!!!!!