Ethics of standardized testing

A blogger who had a much worse day than I did writes:

Today I finished administering the sixth day of New York State Common Core assessments. I was a facilitator in a process that made my 10 year old students struggle,to the point of frustration, to complete yet another 90 minute test. I sat by as I watched my students attempt to answer questions today that were beyond their abilities. I knew the test booklets I put in front of them contained questions that were written in a way that 95% of them had no chance of solving. I even tried to give my students a pep talk, in hopes of alleviating their angst, when I knew damn well they didn’t stand a chance. Today I was part of the problem. —

Opine I will

My own week has had its ups and downs. A graduating former editor-in-chief accepted a job working as a reporter/designer at her hometown paper. That was a definite up. Meeting with a student who plagiarized twice in the same class, meetings with students who are far behind schedule, meetings for routine but kind of thankless committee work…. I can say much the same about any week in my professional career. But I’m eternally grateful that I don’t have to stop doing what I know is best for my students, and force them to sit down and take a high-stakes standardized test.