Just say "no" to high stakes testing

First of all I would like to say, there is nothing standard about a child.
Making students accountable for test scores works well on a bumper sticker and it allows many politicians to look good by saying that they will not tolerate failure. But it represents a hollow promise. Far from improving education, high-stakes testing marks a major retreat from fairness, from accuracy, from quality, and from equity.

My newest rant, I have always been Anti-Testing but now that my daughter is about to enter "school" I am all worked up. Again. The school she will be going to is our neighborhood public, nice school, most of the poor kids go there, which is fine with me (duh, we are poor too) The teachers are new, I guess you have to give 3 years at any school, that will have you. Then you can go to any school you want. MOST teachers I guess want the "better" schools. But what is better and why did you even become a teacher in the first place? The better schools have the good testing! AH HA! must be a good school right? No it's totally bullshit. They have better teachers and resources. They have money from the "rich" parents. They have it all and that is what the testing reflects. They spend more time testing these kids then teaching them now, they take valuable time away from teaching and learning. Kids don't read anymore because they have to get ready for a test instead. We need to lower the STRESS so kids can relax and learn. Anxiety is not uncommon in a typical 1st grader now. Maybe this is all a conspiracy by the pharmaceutical companies? Not likely. But testing is definitely ruining our schools, ours failed the no child left behind. Why? because it's Bullshit.

The Federal education law known as No Child Left Behind is fueled by standardized tests. These expensive tests of questionable merit restrict teacher creativity, discriminate against poor children, rob kids of memorable learning experiences and turn classrooms into test-prep factories. The test companies are unaccountable to the public and our best teachers are being driven from the classroom. Art, music, science, social studies, field trips and even recess are being sacrificed at the alter of test scores.
Federal law demonizes schools in which every child does not pass a norm-referenced standardized test. These tests require half of all students to fall below the norm, in other words, fail the test. This is just one of the Orwellian lies upon which NCLB is built.
http://www.pencilsdown.org/ check this out.