To Test or not to Test?....that is the question!

In the society that we live in there is pretty much a test fro any and everything imaginable. Don't get me wrong most testing strategies are good especailly when it comes to overall health. I for one am truly grateful for the test that can determine cancer and other termianl diseases but when it comes to education, the United States has gone a bit over board. In Louisiana, testing is required to see if a child is ready for pre-K and Kindergarten or whether a child can progress to the next grade. When it came to aptitude testing I was a complete wreck. My palms would become sweaty and I would be extremely nervous because I knew that if I did not pass the LEAP test, then I would be held back in that same grade. Testing and assessments should be done to measure the amount of knowledge a student has but I believe that their present grades within those subjects should aslo be taken into account. Many students have excellent grades on their report cards and then when it came time to graduate they could not because of their scores on the states testing exam. Louisiana testing is a statewide assessment regardless of what area of the state you are living in. Some parishes have better schools than others and often if a school ranks too low on testing then the state can take the school over. In other countries testng is peformed more on a local basis. Finland assessments are performance-based and created locally (Parker, 2012 www.adn.com ). Teachers in Finland focus more on preparing their students for critical thinking skills and often have test scores higher than U.S students on international assessments.

Parker, Tim. Standard tests don't promote real education.  April 6, 2012. www.adn.com