It's a logical idea on the surface. All professionals have standards they must meet in order to continue their career, and any institution taking money from the government should prove that that money is going to good use, right? You can't have teachers and schools letting kids slide by who need help and thereby perpetuating socio-economic disadvantage (and we all know education is the only factor here).
It's not the testing that bothers me. These tests are pretty well written by people who know how to test. They aren't perfect, and they are beginning to lean too much towards computer literacy, which places a serious disadvantage on lower-income school districts, but if administered correctly they could provide valuable information.
What bothers me is who is ultimately responsible, because it causes a lot of problems. Low performing schools receive budget cuts and run the risk of losing experienced teachers, whose jobs are directly on the line. The fate of the school and every student in it is being decided by students.
Think back to when you were a teenager. Did you think much about the future, especially the part that was seemingly unconnected to you? Did you make sound, logical decisions? Most of you, if you're in the habit of being honest with yourself, know the answer is "no".
More importantly, this testing is high stakes to the school, but not to the students. In high school, I tutored a class designed to help students who had failed the math portion of CSAP remaster basic mathematical principles. There was, predictably, a lot of grumbling. Some of the students genuinely needed the help, as some basic skills had been missed somewhere along the line. But most cruised through the class effortlessly for one simple reason: they knew the material. They didn't fail the CSAP because it was too difficult, or their teachers had failed to teach them how to take a test. They failed because to them, the CSAP was a day free from lectures, and could best be enjoyed by making up silly answers, doodling in the margins, and making patterns in the multiple choice section, and they admitted it with laughter. This was not a small percentage of the class, and there a large amount of students taking it. Instead of tying the test to a student's ability to move on to the next grade, the state and federal governments tied the test to a school's ability to get funding. The state then incentivized success instead of using the tests to pinpoint which schools and specific students needed help, and endless amounts of money and tutoring efforts went to waste.
I heard a woman on NPR complaining about the student's being the ones who suffer when their teachers cheat. I don't think it has to be this way. Maybe it's time to acknowledge that students are people who make decisions and make better ones when there is a reason to do so. Stop pretending your children are victims. If your child needs help, and you pay any attention at all, you don't need a test to tell you that. Maybe we should tie test scores to the ability to move to the next grade, so the students who need help are held back to get it and the ones who don't need help put the effort in to stay with their friends. I recognize my evidence is anecdotal, but I don't think my school was unusual in having this problem.
Meanwhile, we are lining up teachers in jail for cheating in an effort to save their jobs and get a too-tempting bonus, and wonder why we don't have enough new teachers joining the workforce. My exit from the education program wasn't just about standardized testing, but I'd be lying if I claimed it wasn't a factor.
I am not condoning the actions of the teachers and administrators in Georgia. I'm just asking- if the student takes the test, but bears no responsibility for the score, how effective is that test? Who are you testing? It's not the one's who can tell you what they know.
