Standardized Testing: Rethinking the Standards

For public school students, testing time approaches. But many parents and politicians are pushing back against standardized testing.

A new Federal law (the Every Student Succeeds Act) may or may not fix the identified problems, which include educators teaching to the test, classroom stress, and shifting standards.There's now a growing "assessment reform movement" of organizations and community groups urging parents to opt their kids out of testing.

My Coastal Virginia Magazine article on the changing face of standardized testing in public schools, and the emerging "Opt Out" movement in Virginia, is now online. The print headline is "Rethinking the Standards." Read it here.

(Photo illustration by the mighty David Uhrin!)