update on testing

[graceygrammy]

I'm sure for you homeschoolers the questions about Standerized testing has been of some concern, I know I have tried to keep up on where this issue is going to go. Here is a email I get from Nightline, this will be on Nightline tonight.
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Nightline Daily E-Mail
June 5, 2003



TONIGHT'S FOCUS: Standardized tests. They were supposed to be the key to improving the performance of our schools. But what do you do when a quarter of a grade fails the test, and has to be flunked? Where do you put them? How do you deal with the stigma for all of those kids? And what about the high school kids already accepted to college who now may not graduate?

Iowa tests. Say those two words to anyone of my generation and I guarantee that you'll get some sweaty palms. Or at least a sense of dread and apprehension. I think they have been replaced by something called the California Achievement Tests, but the result is the same. Standardized tests. We were sternly warned that only a number 2 pencil was appropriate, and you had to carefully color in the circle for the right answer. Woe to anyone who colored outside the lines. I remember that far more than what the tests were actually like. But we all knew that they were important. We just didn't know exactly why, and I don't think we ever saw the results.

These days, standardized tests have become much more important. They are used to measure how effective the schools are. Funding is allocated based on the scores. And there has been a real push to increase their use, and importance. But there is the age-old debate. What about the kids that just don't test well? How effective are the tests? And is too much importance being placed on a test, rather than classroom performance? Like mandatory sentencing, standardized tests remove any consideration of the intangible.

In Florida, a new set of standards has been put in place by Governor Jeb Bush. But fully one quarter of third-graders flunked. They are going to have to be held back. But there's no room in the classrooms, and what about the stigma of flunking for so many students? And more than ten thousand high school seniors, some of whom had already been accepted to college, failed their tests, and so won't graduate. How many lives are being damaged? But the flip side of that is how many kids who are not able to read were simply run through the grades? Shouldn't they be held back so they can learn the skills they will need? Isn't that ultimately the most important thing?

That will be our story for tonight. ABC correspondent Jeffrey Kofman will report from Miami, Chris Bury will be anchoring. I hope you join us.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
ABCNEWS Washington bureau