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I think the better schools have little reason to complain. Their students will do fine. It is not the big deal some people make it out to be.

I'm a Math teacher at a for-profit learning center, and have the opportunity to work with students of all ages and all levels of ability and achievement. For students (and teachers) who are not up to grade level, the tests have been good. They have forced the schools to teach an adequate curriculum to all students and not assume that there are students who cannot achieve at grade level.

One problem I encounter is at the other end of the spectrum...bright students with good grades who have huge holes in their backgrounds because topics that wouldn't be on the test were left out at various grade levels. These students will often say it was a waste of time for them to have life, and learning, stop for these tests. Another problem is the creative aspect of things...teachers have actually become less innovative and creative, and more test-driven.

My preference would be a curriculum-based approach. I wouldn't even mind a subject split into ten broad topics, one for each month of the year, and leave some space within that framework for individual approaches. This would take care of everyone having access to topics and would probably prepare students very well for the test, and keep the test on-task. My experience is that students who come from schools who teach a traditional curriculum to everyone, and complete it, do just fine.

Re your post #61 - I think your solution is a terrific one. Many teachers try to do that now, but they are not always successful.

And, I am likewise very sympathetic to those same students -- the ones on the OTHER end of the spectrum, who of course will do fine on the test, and could go on to so much more.

But, I disagree that a creative teacher has to stop being creative due to an upcoming test. I do think the testing has caused changes. However, I still see lots of room for creativity in teaching. This is a big concern of mine, BTW. So, I am not brushing aside your commentary here. As time goes on and people become more comfortable and familiar with these tests, I think attitudes will continue to improve in this area.

One improvement I believe may already be happening now is that learning objectives at each grade level are becoming much clearer -- so that students at one grade level are not repeating over and over some of the same lessons already learned at a previous grade level.

Thanks for your thoughtful post here. :)