Standardized testing

Here is my rant for the day. Our school system is now completing the states required standardized tests. Since I work with a student who needs assistance I get to actually see what the test looks like. In itself it is not soo horrible. Any student who paid attention and did their work should be able to pass it. Well we are two days into it.

My problem is that the teachers basically teach these kids to know the material that is on the test. Which means that the state is telling the teachers what they need to be teaching. The bigger problem lies in that the state looks at the grade and school as a whole and they get a score that way. These schools are struggling with enough budget money to run through the year. They struggle with getting parents to care enough to have their child do homework let alone cooperate with the extra programs the child needs in order to actually learn at their grade level.

The state requires that the school has a certain percentage of improvement over the previous year or they get put on a list. It doesn't look at taking out students who scores they can compare over the previous year. It doesn't look at what services can they provide to help that school suceed. It seems to be more about punishment.

Don't get me wrong I understand that there is a need to test our children to insure that they are learning and that the schools are doing their job teaching our kids. I just think the government needs to stop punishing the schools for low test scores and take a look at why this is happening. I mean the schools that struggle are not in affluent neighborhoods. They are schools that serve a population that sometimes cannot even feed their own children. A populatin that is not worried about reading to their child. They are worried about making it to their next paycheck without having their water or heat turned off. So how can the state help the schools to provide better programs and insure these kids are not left to slip behind?

That is my rant for the day. Just my opinions. You may or may not agree.