Standardized Tests

I loved reading the book Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith. One of my favorite quotes is found on page 73. Teacher Rafe Esquith says, "The testing obsession that has swept our nation's schools is detrimental to helping children reach their potential as students AND [my own personal emphasis!] human beings!!..Despite the fact that standardized testing was conceived to help our children succeed, in practice, it has only contributed to their failure."

My own recollections of standardized testing known as the CAT, or California Achievement Test, are laughable. Every year, my scores improved by leaps and bounds. And the reason it did was that we received the identical test all four years. I would remember the questions which I knew I answered wrong and I would look up the correct answers so next year it would be right. That was my coping mechanism for the standardized testing madness. By my senior year, I tested in each area at 12.9 +. I was the model student and my high school loved having me there. By my unconventional method of test results improvement, I felt that I had beat the system, a system I was so against. But did I feel any smarter? Absolutely not!

Now that I am an adult, I am appreciative of the life-long learning which I have continued to pursue. No one has coerced me. I simply enjoy it. I feel I have obtained a liberal arts education. No formal degree required.

I ran across the following link to an article I found very interesting.

http://www.maa.org/saum/articles/wiggins_appendix.html

May we break loose of the shackles of our past schooling and liberate ourselves with life-long learning!