High-stakes tests need reality check

Friday, Aug. 26, 2011 | 2:02 a.m.

Regarding the Las Vegas Sun’s Tuesday editorial, “Not making the grade: Schools need a better way to determine academic achievement”:

Teachers realize an overreliance on standardized testing is hazardous for students. As a classroom teacher and president of the Nevada State Education Association, my concerns about high-stakes testing have never been about wanting to forgo accountability.

We’ve fought against more standardized testing because such testing assumes that all children learn the same way. Good teaching means knowing how to teach students individually so they can reach their full potential.

If we want children to be more than good test takers, we need to check the role of standardized testing and let teachers teach.

The writer is president of the Nevada State Education Association.

Excellent letter and points. Very well said. Standardized tests are not the only measure but they should be factored into the equation. How and when it is done in concert with other ways to measure progress is a challenge facing our educators and leaders. Grades can't be discounted in total as some would like and say. Standards and tests are needed and required to measure skills, knowledege and abilities. If not, what?

Carmine A. DiFazio

Assessment is extremely important, especially for teachers to determine lesson mastery. Analysis of assessment results yield valuable information to direct lesson planning and implementation.

Using a single standardized test to make decisions involving a teacher's future is simply not right. It is playing with someone's life and career. We must come up with other ways, IN ADDITION to the standardized testing results.

There are a myriad of other responsibilities a teacher performs in a school year. Those should be given equal weight when determining teacher efficacy.

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