Florida schools spend at least 1 in 3 days on standardized testing
While the value and prevalence of standardized testing has long been a subject of debate in education policy, The New York Times reports that the Sunshine State has gone to the extremes of test scheduling:
In Florida, which tests students more frequently than most other states, many schools this year will dedicate on average 60 to 80 days out of the 180-day school year to standardized testing. In a few districts, tests were scheduled to be given every day to at least some students. [The New York Times]
Parental concerns over the practice have reached a fever pitch with the implementation of Common Core standards, which will make the frequent tests more difficult. "My third grader loves school, but I can't get her out of the car this year," said one mother at a recent school meeting.
Florida's system of extensive testing was developed under the leadership of former Republican governor Jeb Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush, whose No Child Left Behind law's use of testing was similarly controversial.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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