What's so bad about teaching to the test?

"I think, as someone soon to graduate with her Masters in teaching Social Studies,and who has raised three children in public and private schools, that the NCLB standards do not take into consideration a deeper problem: The lack of Nation wide standards that all states should meet consistently to ensure that all our students are getting a fair and equal education. For that reason our nation consistently deprives our students from skilled teachers, high expectations and well funded schools. We need to nationalize standards so as to bring our Southern students and inner city students up to a level of education that is not embarrassing to our nation. We also need to change how schools are funded. Using property taxes to fund our schools is not equitable and discriminates against the poor, a population that is quickly rising in the changing global economy. In short, NCLB needs to be revamped, funded or eliminated entirely. I'd like to see it eliminated and our energies focused on teaching, not testing. But hey, I'm just a mom and a teacher, what do I know. Let male politicians make those 'wise' decisions for us. They're doing such a great job these past few years. Not!"

"Having kids memorize answers to a standardized test is not educational and doesn't encourage independent creative thinking on the part of the child or the teacher, nor does it teach real-world problem solving techniques. It just makes them good memorizers up to the time of the test , which is then lost. It's uninteresting and boring and totally lacks creative thought."

"There needs to be a way to make sure no unqualified teachers and principals slip through the cracks, and for now I think standardized tests are a decent way to do this. Unfortunately, this isn't how standardized tests are being used in my community. Instead, they're used as bragging points for these high-achieving schools, bragging points for college applications, and bragging points for local property values. Meanwhile, teachers feel compelled to skip important course materials to make sure the students score well on the CAT/6. To solve this problem, I think all standardized test scores should be confidential, only exposed to principals to help evaluate their teachers, and school board to help evaluate their principals. Parents should never be allowed to see the scores, forcing them to evaluate schools based on visits to schools and meetings with school staff."

"On NCLB aligning to standards. Teaching to an expected set of test content is not education - it is accepting that some group has determined what kids need to know. When specific test objectives are known, those are the things that will be taught, not learned, but drilled and checked and pre-tested and worried about until the big dramatic days of testing that come at the end of every school year now. Then the test itself is a mystery of topics and often beyond the understanding of many kids - it is a source of frustration and discontent for kids and teachers. There is actually no 'positive side' to seeing higher numbers for reading scores at the expense of cutting time in other subject areas. Higher reading scores do not mean kids who love to read - means kids who have drilled and practiced on countless worksheets how to pick out the main points from a paragraph. All of this test prep takes away from real lesson planning, real learning time, real exploration - teachers bec! ome scripted workers trying to find 'creative' ways to practice the test. Kids find less and less enjoyment with their childhood days in school. Parents should insist that their kids not prep for tests - how many of today's parents spent their school days practicing for tests and worrying about how they would compete in the world economy someday? Politicians have decided that standardized testing is what we need - and politicians know nothing about educating kids. Why are they in charge here and not the educators of the country? All good teacher assess their students all the time and in many ways. They do not need the state to gather data on the kids. I would refer all to alfiekohn.org for interesting, practical comments on what is happening to kids in today's testing climate."

"I really wish there was some way to measure the state of learning of the students which does not take time away from instruction ... alas there is not. There is no question, these days 100% of the class time is spent focused on maximizing those STAR test results, and I do not see it as the best way to help the kids learn. The frustrating thing is that for most intents and purposes the school year is over after the STAR testing is done. >From observing a teacher whose classes get higher than average STAR test scores, the teacher forced material beyond the grade level into the compressed schedule leading up to the test. It worked, the STAR test scores were well above average. I wonder how much retention there is ... perhaps the STAR tests should be administered immediately prior to the start of the school year. Of course, then all the parents who put too much emphasis on the test scores would force their kids into Sylvan (or equiv) to prepare them for the tests. Isn't the goal to develop internalized skills? How does one test for that? "

"Standardized tests are an integral part of your child learning how to take a test. On the other hand a child should have balance of learning and taking a test. If my child can't come out of school know test taking tips it would devastate me. I am a mature adult and faced with many tests while looking for employment. If my teachers did not teach me the strategies needed to pass, I would be homeless. In short, there must be a balance in learning and taking tests. Both of them play a huge role in adult life. School is just a short stay and life can last for years thereafter. I never forget how my teachers taught me the ropes, especially in elementary school. In this day and age you are checked out to the hilt before starting a job vs. the time when being hired without a resume and just listing your experience in 3 sentences. Ironically, was always promoted and made a decent salary. Now everthing is so formal and you have to be 'processed.'"

"Please understand that teaching to the test is different then when that term was first coined by teachers. IN 1998 when standards based education and accountabilty came into play the state test had not yet been refashioned to support standards based instruction. Now, without a doubt standards based instruction is expected and the state test does match what teachers are expected to teach in the classroom. This is the best of both worlds, high accountability for teachers to teach basic developmental concepts, no matter where they teach in the state, and a test that will measure the effectiveness of their instruction. THis alignment guarentees students of all grade levels, across the state of california, a guarenteed and viable knowledge base. FINALLY !"

"I do not believe in teaching to the test for any child. In fact if I had my way I would do away with classroom teachers and computerize learning by master teachers. This way children would compete against themselves and not have to endure endless, boring and non-creative teaching. Computerized learning would allow the child to learn the necessary concepts in half the time and then in the extra hours, the youngster would attend enrichment classes in the areas of his or her interest. Millions of dollars would be saved and only the teachers with specialties would be kept. And the best that would happen is that children would not be burnt out by sitting in endless learning in the classroom and would be free to excell in his or her speciality. I know of a school which does not teach the the test and the youngsters score much highly on the standardized tests then the children who are taught to the test. "

"I have to agree witht he last comment, I am afraid to voice my opinion i get rejected all the time with my comments. Our standards stink in this country. Whateve did have to the basic fundmentals the three 'R''s The teachers are baby sitters now, all the homework and work comes home and then the parents have to teach, if they want to or again let the baby sitter handle it. I had to pull my child from the public in FL. They were not teaching to learn they were teaching just the tip of the ice burg to pass the tests. Why are the tests done so early the kids think school is over then."

"What about the high achievers? It's more like 'Bring the High Achievers Down Act'. I have been told that the state adjusts the standards to fit the lowest qualified student. Doesn't sound right... Why not raise them up? This country is 20+ in Math & Science. We should be leading the world in these areas...not baby sitting? Instead of continuing to push kids through school... What else would we do with them? ...Why not employ a model like Japan and provide more structured learning. What happened to our way of doing things...back to basics...The fundamentals of reading, writing, arithmetic... Where did phonics go? What about history? What about our future? We are 'the parents' who have an obligation to respond to our kids as 'kids'. The 'rights' being imposed on them are undermining the future of this country. It's about time parents start acting like adults and 'parent' our kids so this country can have a future, one which has yet to be revealed run by responsible, mature adults. Has one of us so-called 'adult parents' told our kids that it's not against the law to pray in a public school. God forbid if they found out they were protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution. What are we waiting for??? Our kids to tell us it's okay..."

"I'm not great at taking tests. My daughter is the same. I feel that the corner a child is put in just to pass from a test is unfair. The real world does not promote anyone with only test scores. Let's look at what each child's strengths are and bulid on them accordingly. In most cases weaknesses are fairly obvious. "

"WHa ti si so bad about teachign to test...hmm let me see the test takes place in March, now you are going to push a child to learn a years worth of education in 7 monthins instead of a 9 month school year. Skipping around in books and a lot of the skipping are the basic fundamentals. Also a lot of pressure is put on the parents to teach the kids. Maybe the public schools should go back to teaching to learn, get rid of no child left behind. Maybe it takes a student 2 years to learn something, because they were not taught a basic issue. The school are too concerned about their funding. I notice the publice school my daughter had started mid term in 3rd grade all the scores went down. I pulled my daughter after 2 months they were not teaching her to learn just tests. She is doing great in a private, for they are teaching her to learn!!!"

"In regards to the FCAT's. I personally think they are a waste of time. The teachers are teaching what is on the test, not what they should be teaching. If a child does not pass the FCAT, they do not pass that grade level. Also, this test was developed by GEORGE W. BUSH when he was Govenor of Texas. He holds all rights to this test and thus gets a kick back everytime it is used! Jeb Bush helped his brother out by making Florida use this test, thus giving more money to George W. Bush. I think it is time Florida stands up and says enough is enough!"

"I SUPPORT TESTING! I SUPPORT TESTING! I SUPPORT TESTING! How can we gage where we are without test results? You can’t pass a test without “learning� how to get to the answer first. How can you honestly quantify learning without some form of measurement? Test! DUH! Most complaints here are parent with failing kids who will obviously have biased opinion. These parents are essentially saying this: “My kids can’t pass the test. My kids are smart. So these tests are stupid.� What they should be saying is: “My kids can’t pass the test. I think my kids are smart. Maybe my kids need my help.� "

"Children should not have to learn to test. Let them learn at their own pace and not what is dictated to them to make the school and A school or make the teachers look good for their bonuses. If a teacher is doing his or her job our children will move on to the next grade level. If we need a test to establish this then there is definately a problem and the State of Florida needs to re-evaluate it school system. We have taken PE out of their schedules so they can concentrate on the FCAT. Wrong, the US is obese especially our children and this is what the school board choses to cut back on? Come on Florida, I grew up in WPB and I graduated just fine. No test accept the SAT/ACT's college boards. Florida we need to ban together to get this FCAT changed and help our children. They are the future. If I could work 4 jobs and send my child to private school I would, if I could home school her I would but society has dictated that most legal americans must work. When does it end"

"Teaching to the test is a horrible way to teach children basic cognitive thinking skills. They are taught for 12 years how to take a test, then they get to college where they are actually expected to THINK. I graduated HS in 1995 and put off college for several years. I saw many classmates struggle through classes where there were few or no tests because they didn't know how to use their cognitive thinking skills. Tests have their place but real life doesn't involve multiple choice questions."

" I think teaching to the test is never good. There are things not on the test that should still be taught and its missed when they teach to the test. Writing is one. My daughter is in kindergarten. They teach the letters and upper case and lower case but they are never taught neatness. When i was in school you had to practice writing your letters so you got neater. Neatness is important so someone else can read what you have written. So much focus is put on sight words reading is not actually taught. My daughter goes to school but i home teach as well. My daughter is way over her grade in reading because i have taught her to read at home. They spend way too much time on sight words and not enough time on sounds and blending. So the rest of the class is learning sight words and some sounds but my daughter is reading big words and spelling. It's not because she's really smart (she is but that's not the main reason) I teach sounds of single letters and combinations and than ble! nding as i go along. Mean while at school the class is memorizing words that are too hard to learn but would be learned naturally later on if given the correct base now. The beginning books out for young children are a joke. The books Biscuit is not even a good collection for kindergärtners. They can't read that word alone they memorize it. Some children this works for but for the most part most children can only memorize but so many words but combinations or lessons to read are easier to learn and go further but are not taught. I know this because memorizing was the way i was taught to read and i failed i didn't learn to read until i got out of school at 18yrs old and am still not a good speller. So the system they are going by now doesn't work for all children and a system that works for all or most children should be the used system. I think the schools fail the children that need it the most."

"I don't think there should be a need to teach to the test. School district curriculum administrators, state department of education curriculum gurus AND state test administrators (i.e., FCAT here in FL) need to coordinate exactly what children need to learn in each grade level. If they did this, the testing info would be what the kids learn every day. There would be no need to cram stuff into kids that isn't covered. To what extent this coordination is done among the units, I don't know. But it seems that if teachers having to teach to a test is a big concern, the real issue of getting the curriculum standards coordinated would resolve that problem. However, I don't see a problem with schools teaching HOW to take and prep for the tests; just for a few days, though."

"I'm glad Greatschools has taken on the 'teaching to the test' issue. Test-taking is only one part of a child's education. It is a very important one. You must pass written and verbal tests all the time. Deal with it! If parents have not realized by now that they are ultimately responsible for their kids true understanding and depth of knowledge on subject matter, then they are not on top of things as much as they think. There is only one way to 'level' on what a child or anyone for that matter knows - written or verbal 'test'. Plan and Prepare! DocMobley"

"If it's a truly good test--testing a student's understanding of a subject--then 'teaching to the test' would simply mean teaching in the most effective way to improve a student's understanding. We need the tests! We parents need a way of assessing our schools: which schools are best? which schools are improving or worsening? If a test lends itself to mindless memorization and test-taking tricks, GET A BETTER TEST. We should all be tired of schools criticizing tests automatically. OF COURSE schools will say tests are bad; schools don't like being scrutinized. BTW, schools and teachers who are knowingly 'teaching to the test' at the expense of true learning, are being unethical. Don't blame the test for that. Peace. John"

"Teaching to the test is limiting the education of students by using only memorization as the assessment of learning. It does not allow for children who think out of the box.to have success in school. We need creative problem solvers in society not just rote individuals."

"Children are individuals with their own personalities, ideas, and learning styles. Sheep-herding them to pass tests instead of enriching and feeding their minds is not real education. My 15 year son came with us to Great Britain at the age of 8. He has had an outstanding education and is a happy student because here they let kids be individuals while preparing them for a future. Here they teach problem solving skills, good study habits, critical thinking skills, etc. Their exams are never multiple choice which enforces their writing skills. (His first 3 years in the US was a horrible experience!) My 3 year old is very much his own person and has a strong personality. I worry about moving back to the US, because he will not conform to their expected norms, and I would never ask him to. We need to allow for individuality in education, while preparing the children to be competitive in an ever shrinking world. NCLB has the opposite effect for the kids who like to think for themselves!"

"Well i think teaching to the test is bad. There is more to learning than what the answer are to the test. How you go there is not tested. So what is being taught is the answers. It's not enough. Knowing 2 + 2 is 4 isn't enough. You need to know how you go there. How to spell THE isn't enough You need to know how to read it now what the word is. The teachers are teaching the word not how to read it. You can teach all the words but if your not teaching to write what is the good of it. Printing isn't enough in the adult world you are judged highly how your handwriting. They will not hire you in any office if you have bad handwriting and handwriting WAS taught and is almost ignored now because it's not part of the test. So i think it's not enough to teach according to the test you will miss lots of things that REALLY being taught misses. That's like living in your own bubble and not going out to get more information on how to live... What's good about life when you live like tha! t...."

"Standardized tests don't include enough questions on any given skill to be the type of diagnostic tool you describe,which was about the only 'positive' you mentioned. That test-taking skills are important to learn is another reason not to turn testing into the current nightmare that is has become. Testing is here to stay ONLY because too much money is being made from it to back out now... not because it makes school districts 'accountable' for any real learning. I was SHOCKED at how ill-informed and biased this article was. This article was so far removed from what is good for our kids, that it has made me question the integrity of your entire site... any place that would actually publish and perpetuate such damaging rhetoric is clearly NOT interested in what's good for kids."

"I Agree with this in some ways but for the most part i don't agree. I think the test is a bunch of trash. I think teachers and schools are afraid that if they don't teach what is on the test correctly they will fail and there for the school will fail. So the focus on what is on the test and nothing else. The believe we can't over teach these subjects but since the others aren't on the test we don't need to focus on them. Hence leaving out things that need to be taught with or with out tests. Sometimes things are taught in a certain way just so they will pass that test. One being spelling, reading and math. They aren't taught how to read but what the words are, not how to spell but how that word is spelled. Not how to add or subtract but how those certain numbers are added or subtracted. So when the end comes to school they don't know these things and can't go on to bigger and better things. They have to start over and learn what they don't know and should have been taught in! the beginning when it would have been easier. Good luck with that. I think the no child left behind is crap too. I have a plan my daughter WILL NOT BE LEFT behind, I'll make sure of it because she's top on my list. I don't leave it up to anyone else what i can do."

"I WAS ONCE TOLD THAT SCHOOLS WANT GOOD TEST SCORES IN ORDER TO RECEIVE FUNDING, BUT THAT THEY ALSO NEED A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE OF POOR TEST SCORES, OR THE SCORES WON'T BE BELIEVABLE. WHEN THE SCHOOLS REFUSED TO HELP MY CHILD WHEN SHE WAS IN NEED ACADEMICALLY, I WAS TOLD BY A COMMUNITY MEMBER THAT SINCE WE WERE NOT LEGAL CITIZENS OF THAT STATE (BEING MILITARY), WE POSSIBLY MAY HAVE BEEN SINGLED OUT BY THE SCHOOL SYSTEM TO BE A PART OF THAT NEGATIVE STATISTIC THE SCHOOL NEEDED TO BALANCE OUT THEIR TEST SCORES. I HATE TO THINK THIS IS POSSIBLE, BUT IF YOU READ ON, IT MAY MAKE SENSE! I have comments on three issues: 1)ALL schools across the country should be teaching the exact same subjects at the same grade levels. As a Military Brat, having moved from state to state, my child did not receive the same education in each state. An example of this happened when she was never in a school the taught state capitols (each school taught it in different grades), and upon moving to California, when asked about a state capitol and she did not know the answer, her teacher humiliated her in front of the class, stating that she should have already learned this. She explained that she was never in a school that taught it. With our many moves, and this not being taught in the same grade level in different states, she missed it completely. And, especially in MATH, where she missed many important building blocks and skills when a school she moved to was further advanced in math than the one she came from in another state: It haunted her the rest of her middle and high school years. She was too far behi! nd and the schools refused to help her. 2) The two comments above asking 'what the school is doing to address any differences in achievement among particular groups of students,' and asking 'if the school uses test results to identify areas that need improvement or to target support for certain students,' are most important to know. My child struggled in 8th grade upon moving to California, and the school noticed an immediate issue with my child lacking vital math skills, but adamantly refused to do anything to help her, or even to move her into a lower level math class that did indeed exist, claiming she would be fine, and did not qualify for help, even though they did not test her for help (such as with special ed). She failed math for the entire year (the only time she has ever failed anything in her life), but was still permitted to graduate 8th grade, and attended summer school often after that to pass math through high school. Although I asked EVERY administrator in the middle school to put her into a lower! level math class to fill in her blanks (as they put it), EVERYONE, including the math teacher, the guidance counselor, the vice principal and the principal ALL said it was against school policy to make any changes once the school year began and that they had to leave her in that class room, claiming she would be fine. Well, in the end, she was NOT fine. To make matters worse, the math teacher was FIRED at the end of the school year. My daughter continued on into high school, and struggled horribly in math, which for a while in her earlier years, affected her studies in some of her other subjects from time to time. To pass the California Exit Exam in high school math, we had to pay thousands of dollars to private tutors and to send our daughter to Sylvan to bring her up to par. Sylvan did not teach her to pass the exit exam, they evaluated her skills in math and taught her what she was missing, which the schools never did. I even later forced the high school to test her for! special ed, when a tutor told me they suspected she had learn! ing disa bilities and could get help through the school if she qualified, and after much argument, reluctantly they did test her, but then told me that she was extremely intelligent, and that her high IQ probably higher than it registered on the test and probably was what was getting her through school, since she had very high non verbal skills, but borderline low verbal comprehension skills, and said she would always struggle by interpreting things differently than the average person would. They also said that this did not qualify her for any tutoring or special education assistance in the public school (Note: upon showing these test results later to her college, they informed us that she was never tested for learning disabilities by the tests the high school gave her, that they mostly just tested her for IQ). My child was very much left behind, and if not for the great amount of money I paid Sylvan to help her pass her Math Exit Exam required for graduation, had we let the schools ! continue not to help her in math, she might not have passed high school at all, despite her having good grades in all of her other subjects, especially after she was no longer struggling over math (she became mostly an A student, and some B's, after she no longer had to struggle over math). 3)The ARTS and PE are very important and should remain a vital part of education. You mention critical thinking, but what about abstract thinking, coordination, creativity, and fitness? I am a prior art educator, and found the art room to be a release to many students who were struggling elsewhere, and a place to express themselves creatively. Additionally, my child attended a performing arts high school that was very instrumental in honing her creative skills in dance and choreography. If we want well rounded students, such as how students in college are required to take liberal arts classes in addition to their majors, we also need to have the ARTS of every form available to our students in their primary and secondary educational years. Not every student is a mathematician, or historian, or scientist, but may excel in music, or dance, or drama, or poetry, or home economics, or sports. My child now attends an Arts university and is excelling very well there, and I am thank! ful that despite the issues she had while she was in middle and high school with their lack of interest in helping her in math, she was able to attend a performing arts high school, which was very instrumental in her getting into the college she now attends. Keep the Arts in the schools. Although I am passionate about the topics I have discussed above, to keep my anger at the schools at bay, I always kid around regarding how the schools let her down in teaching her math by saying that with her problems in math, she is lucky to be a dancer, since dancers only have to learn to count up to ....5,6,7,8, and thankfully her university does not require math for her major, (and it is a very prestigious school). However, with out the higher math required for admissions at all state colleges and universities, she was not able to apply to these schools or attend them. This is very sad, has proven to be very costly both personally and financially, and because of this, I do feel my chi! ld was VERY MUCH LEFT BEHIND, even if she did graduate on time! and is doing well in college now (mostly A's and a few B's so far). But consider this: the financial costs far exceeds the tutors we had to pay outside of school, since her lack of higher math disqualified her from attending state colleges and universities with more affordable tuition, and no one is offering to help us pay for the high tuition at her private college that happily accepted her with out her higher level math courses (she did get one small scholarship and a grant from her college, but it is not much). I am thankful that at least now I know her education in college is not going to leave her behind. They offer all sorts of help for students. A NOTE TO CONSIDER: Tests don't always indicate what you know all the time: they often indicate what you don't know, or how well you can or can't take a test. I think it would be interesting if schools evaluated ALL students based on their personal styles of learning, and then offered students classrooms that taught subjects according to their individual best style of learning, such as the hands on learner, or the auditory learner, or the visual learner. I think this alone would show a marked improvement in learning."

"I was surprised to get an email blast from GreatSchools with that title. Their argument, that if the test is aligned to the standard being taught, then what is so bad? The fact the question was asked is a bit scary to me; that GS cannot figure out that test obsession is content light - that teaching to the test means teaching kids how to find the STUPID choices in a multiple choice environment, a totally FLAWED and non-representative content assessment, regardless of how many paragraphs you write about it. Here is the kicker: give the same student two identical tests, one where the answer has to be filled in and the other multiple choice: If the student was taught content and critical thinking, then you would expect the scores on both tests to be the same, or at least close. The problem is...this is not the case. Multiple choice assessments are weak, require little skill and do not evaluate the ability of a child to think a problem through using a set of learned tools. It is guesswork where the rationale of recognizing a hinting of an answer is misinterpreted as fluency on the subject matter. Students are meant to learn, not just guess well. If that is a measure of what constitutes a Great School, perhaps the fact that more than ever, colleges are requiring a higher amount of remedial coursework from freshman students, high school dropout rates in California are in excess of 87,000 this last year, and the fact that as a whole, society is slipping into illiteracy. As a former educator and host of an education blogsite ( www.misterwriter.com,) I am disappointed that the failed legacy of NCLB and the ever failing legacy of our public schools can be dismissed in as cavalier manner as the subject of your article. If you want to find a focus for a great school, focus on the challenge in keeping students engaged through tangible applications of learning, especially given the sterile environment that public education has created in order to minimize lawsuits and 'manage' the ever growing behavior problems caused by parents who are unwilling to take responsibility for the conduct of their children. "

"We just received out test scores. Our school piles on homework to 'raise' test scores. We are enrolled in costly after school program to 'raise' test scores, program run by teachers, earning extra money to supervise homework. TONS OF HOMEWORK. (Interesting how when the teachers earn extra money to supervise homework, there is TONS more homework.) We just received our scores and they went down. NCLB and teaching-to-the-test have diminished their desire to learn. Endless memorization, regurgitating information without learning how to apply it. My children are considered 'smart'. What does that tell you?"

"My family is against this pass or fail test . How your an A-B student one minute, fail this dumb test by 1 three times all the sudden your not so smart.This should be the out cry of parents!! Not test my kid I wanna see how smart he is PLEASE people PLEASE. This test is a big joke I'd like Perry to go to your state and then lets see how you like it. I have been told by Teachers that some see our children as %s teach to the higher and you'll come out okay sorry for the lower which is probable 3% ,but if you cant keep up they cant risk keeping the others down with you.They dont have time and LORD knows they dont want to stay after to catch them up. As a parent of the 3% I say hope your child or grandchild gets to be 3% not worth teaching before you can see this test is very very dangerous to the health of our children when they have enough stress to puke cry and think of suicide then that's when we need to grow up and STAND up for our children!!! We need to worry about what t! here not learning!!! Which is more than is on that test. We all want everyone to do there job parents and teachers but ,this is just to much show me the stats that its working and ill back it but when I see kids crying to the extent of hyperventilating in the school halls with my own eyes over this test they better be some pretty darn good stats. Please help fight it write your representatives say no to killing our children's spirts."

"I do see standardized testing as a way for principals to identify potential problems in a specific classroom, and for school boards to identify potential problems in a particular school. I fail to see the point beyond that. It has caused problems with school overcrowding because many parents look to the API as the key to good schools and flood the attendance areas which have the big APIs. If parents instead visited the schools and met the principals to determine the quality of the school, the more subjective judgement would spread children to more schools; schools which may be more appropriate for the subjective qualities of each child. Keep doing standardized testing, but keep the results a secret, available only to teachers, principals, and school boards."