State testing doesn’t test students, it tests teachers, hence why teacher unions are so against these tests.
But typical liberal smoke screen - ‘It’s for the children...’
No,teachers' UNIONS have been complaining about he tests because they allow a measurement of their teaching skills.
“Other factors” = “social promotion.”
An illiterate, dumbed-down population is easily manipulated. And that’s what Common Core is all about. Don’t teach them how to properly spell a word, how to write a sentence in proper syntax, or even how to do basic math. Just give them pointless yes/no tests to gauge their “feelings” or the “feelings of others”. And it doesn’t matter that they are allowed to go all the way through high school without ever learning how to read, write, or even use penmanship. The govenrnment-paid teachers get their bonuses as long as the test results prove that the kids are “politically correct”.
The tests were never intended to be used to determine whether or not a student was promoted to the next grade. The tests were intended to tell the teachers how the students responded to provided instruction. THe schools were to look at how the students performed in specific areas and do so over the years so that schools could improve and fine tune their instruction.
THere was an uproar when NY city schools received error laden test results. THe test scores had to be recalculated and horror of horrors, numerous children who were thought to have scored in the lowest (say 10% mastery of content for that school year) tier had actually scored a bit higher (say 12% mastery). Agreed that the testing company should have to pay through the nose for making an error. The part that shocked me was that parents were outraged that their kids had to go to summer school as a result of the testing company’s error. If my child scored horribly on the test I’d be BEGGING for additional class time, summer school but these parents were irate because, technically, the slightly higher score meant their student wasn’t REQUIRED to attend summer school. I’m not indifferent to summer vacation plans and child care issues etc. - but isn’t it more important that the student aquire more than the low teens in mastery for that school year so he/she doesn’t fail the next year or drop out in frustration?
Teachers have been saying there’s too much testing for decades but this story is posed as if it is a new and burgeoning problem that must be addressed.
IMO, the SAT tests were not run properly - they did not stress enough how important they could be to one's future and ensure that folks took them seriously enough to apply themselves.