Yes, just when you thought we had enough testing, more is on the way. According to today's lengthy Chicago Tribune front page story, Illinois is looking at conducting far more mandatory testing in the very near future.
The plan is multiple facted but, suffice it to say, the scope of the testing will occur in every grade, grades 3 through 11!! In some cases, such as 8th grade, students will be tested twice!
What's driving this insanity of overtesting? Some legislators see this as a way to opt out of the No Child Left Behind legislation while still other state officials see the ISAT testing standards as being 'too low.' State of Illinois education personnel say the expanded testing would let schools better chart the annual progress of students.
You can bet that if all of the additional tests are implemented they will be used to in teacher evaluations.
This is added testing is crazy, it really is! This is simply a case of more isn't better. Yes, more hours spent on testing means less, significantly less, classroom enrichment and learning. It also means that with less classroom time further stess will be put on students and teachers to meet the curriculum demands.
Is this what education has become? I'm afraid so!! Somehow testing is equated to superior teaching and learning. Anyone who really knows something about education knows that it is a procees that involves maturity, growth, creativity, meaningful dialogue, nurturing student-to-pupil relationships, exploration and more.
I have news for the creators of year round testing. It won't come close to meeting these qualities...not even close!!!!
Dick
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