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The joy of standardized testing

A Louisiana parent is driven mad by the state’s LEAP tests, the standardized assessment it inflicts on fourth and eighth grade public school students, with the goal of imposing “accountability” on schools. If you fail the LEAP test, you don’t pass. If enough kids fail in a particular school, there are huge penalties imposed on […]

A Louisiana parent is driven mad by the state’s LEAP tests, the standardized assessment it inflicts on fourth and eighth grade public school students, with the goal of imposing “accountability” on schools. If you fail the LEAP test, you don’t pass. If enough kids fail in a particular school, there are huge penalties imposed on the school. Excerpt:

Schools hold motivational rallies to help students deal with the fear of the test. The pressure is intense. And because schools desperately need students to pass the LEAP, fourth and eighth grade teachers spend almost the entire school year training students for the test. At the most prestigious public school in my area (in other words, the school with the highest LEAP scores), students rotate attendance, coming to school one row at a time, with the other students staying at home, so that teachers can give individualized test prep.

Eventually all the LEAP tutors met to discuss how things were going. I listened, stunned, as tutor after spoke positively about their experiences. Finally, I exclaimed, “This test is a big confusing mess. I can’t even figure out what the questions are asking.” There was a loud collective sigh and then all the tutors began speaking at once, confessing that they too were confused, but were too afraid to admit it, fearing that they were the only ones.

Where would we be without standardized testing?

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