Testing Season is Upon Us

This is a great week for me as a teacher, because it is Spring Break!! I get a chance to catch up in things I haven't had time to do and prepare for 'testing season'! Now of course the latter part is not my favorite, because as a teacher I kind of despise the whole testing debacle. Yes of course it is a necessary part to the education program but in some schools, cities and states they take it to the extreme! When a 3rd or 4th grader is scared about 'the test' then you know something is wrong! School is meant to develop the minds of our youth and help them grow into fine young men and women. Instead we are brainwashing them to think that taking a test is the end all be all! Why? I understand we need to show what students have learned and if teachers are effective, but is testing students 30 days out of 45 in a 9 week period the answer? Does weighing a pig more often make them fatter and worth more? The answer is obvious, but for some reason we continue on the path that we are on. At some point we need to find a better alternative to the 'test, test, test' idea that is stuck in so many administrators and law makers heads. If we expect teachers to change the way they teach and have more interactive lessons, why not test the same way? Why not do performance based tests? Why not do online testing? Teachers have to take online tests to become a teacher, so why can't students do it? Wouldn't it save time, money, and the chance of mistakes? Or is it not really about what makes sense, but about what makes more money? Teachers need to be the change. Otherwise, there will be no change!