“In some places, tests — and preparation for them — are dominating the calendar and culture of schools and causing undue stress for students and educators.”
The quote comes not from an angry parent or firebrand school leader but from Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Of course, he’s the guy currently in charge of a big chunk of those tests: the No Child Left Behind requirement of annual standardized testing in grades 3-8, plus once during grades 10-12.
And those tests are just the start. Lately everyone from the president on down has been weighing in on the question: Are kids really being tested too much? And their answer, mostly, is a big “Yes.”
President Obama said last month that he “welcomes” a pledge from state and big-city school leaders to work together to “cut back on unnecessary testing and test preparation.”
The groups, the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Council of the Great City Schools, announced the initial results of an attempt to quantify the current state of testing in America.
