What type of culture?

To begin to talk about standardized testing that takes place in the educational system, you must also talk about politics and policymakers. Testing has become a benchmark to provide satisfaction for the politicians and citizens who believe it to show trends, progress, and highlight areas in need of improvement. Although research shows that this often not true, the United States has re-focused itself in becoming a test-based educational society. A society where to achieve and be successful, you must also be a good test taker.


The Rise of the Testing Culture
As Exam-Takers Get Younger, Some Say Value Is Overblown
By Valerie StraussWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, October 10, 2006; Page A09

"...Kids get tested and labeled as soon as they get into kindergarten," said [Kisha] Lee, who runs the state-certified Alternative Preschool Solutions in Accokeek. "They have to pass a standardized test from the second they get in. I saw kindergartners who weren't used to taking a test, and they fell apart, crying, saying they couldn't do it. The child who can sit and answer the questions correctly is identified as talented," Lee said. "It hurts me to have to do this, but it hurts the kids if I don't."

So it seems we are not actually testing the material, the intelligence, or even the cumulative knowledge of the child, but their ability to recall information in a controlled setting. This is hardly what standardized testing is claiming it does. Testing at such a young age seems that it would prove fruitless. Assuming that all young children have the ability to understand how to take a test is absurd.

"...We are obsessed with tests," said Occidental University education professor Ron Solorzano, who used to teach in Los Angeles public schools. "We are pretty much preparing [kids] for the SAT at the age of 6," added Solorzano, who also worked at the Educational Testing Service, the world's largest private educational testing and measurement organization. Americans embrace tests because they are entranced with objectivity -- or at least the appearance of it, experts say.

For the full article, click here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/09/AR2006100900925.html

A study coinciding with this article showed that 71% of teachers believed that there was too much testing in schools. Compared that to 17% of parents believing the same, there is a gap in communication between the two groups. If parents were aware of how teachers felt about testing and felt about spending weeks teaching to the test, i believe it would spark conversation and questions about the "necessary" testing.