Standardized tests go wrong way for students

Debbie Cafazzo’s article from Aug. 17 talks about Washington kids beating the low predictions on new state tests. I am now a second-year college student, relatively fresh out of high school. One of the biggest draw backs I observed about the education system is that standardized testing is required.

It limited the teachers’ freedom to teach the way they wanted and the way they would approach the material.

The other issue with standardized testing is that each area, each school is different. Some schools have more money to help students success on these tests; some schools have virtually no money; then are all the schools in the middle.

In my opinion it should be up to the school district to determine how their schools should be tested, not the state. I highly doubt that state officials have visited every school in Washington state and assessed their needs.

The article had a comment from state Superintendent Randy Dorn that that test results are “moving in the right direction.”

Test results may be moving in the right direction, but the way we test students is moving in the completely opposite direction.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Standardized tests go wrong way for students."