Standardized testing in Kindergarten! - Page 2

[Greaseball]

Tests will be legally required? What are they going to do, put kids in jail if they don't take them? Also, are they legally required to do well, or can they just write "F**k this school" on the test and hand it in, thus avoiding jail?

It sounds like an easy solution to just have the kid stay home on test day but remember, some schools will "teach to the test" for several weeks before the test, meaning that kids will not do any real learning. It's not the test that's so bad IMO, it's the weeks and weeks of useless teaching.

Also, there are some schools that teach only in this way - rote memorization and test-taking skills.

From what I understand, a school can only expel a student if they are a serious danger to other students, or when all other measures have failed. Refusing to take a test would not count.

[RyleenColinsMom]

I've been reading this thread and WOW! DS starts Kindergarten is 3 weeks! Do you think the school knows already if they are doing these tests this year?

[BusyMommy]

they should

[EFmom]

Our ps doesn't test in K--the first standardized test is in third grade. But, they start teaching to the test in K! OK, maybe that's a little overstated, but...

For dd's first parent conference, the teacher (who I like very much btw), started telling me some approaches we should take when reading stories at home because "that's what they look for on the 3rd grade language arts test."

I burst out laughing. DD is way ahead of the curve in language arts, as the teacher told us. She was reading before she started K. Our school always has stellar performance on the standardized testing. Dh and I are both educators, and think this emphasis on the test scores is way overblown.

I told the teacher that I know the school will do fine standardized testing wise because they have the right demographics, pure and simple. She admitted as such. I also said that our main goal is to instill a love of reading and learning in our child. I'm not going to suck the joy out of storytime for the sake of the school's third grade standardized test scores. I think she sort of agreed with me, but couldn't come right out and say it.

When the time comes, I'm also going to investigate keeping my kids out of school during the testing days.

[BusyMommy]

HOORAY for you. I'm a teacher and I totally agree w/you!

[Greaseball]

What I don't understand is this - I was born in 1979 and have spent most of my school days filling in little bubbles ever since I could remember. These were not any kind of special schools, they were regular public schools. So why is standardized testing suddenly a new thing? It's been going on for decades, and it seems like only now are people really concerned.