Interesting Commentary on Standardized Tests

Assessment and testing is a topic I have been saving until I get a little further along in developing the things I hope my school will teach. But there was an interesting commentary on NPR this morning on the subject of standardized tests.

Without getting into a major discussion of the topic, I generally come down on the "standardized tests are bad because they force teachers to teach test taking skills instead of other things they should be teaching, don't really measure what they say they do, and cost schools a lot of money that could be better put to other uses" side of the argument. The commentator, a former teacher in a Philadelphia charter school and current ed school student, does a good job of discussing her own issues with standardized tests while recognizing the ways in which they are attractive to parents whose children have been so under-served by their school systems in the past. It's a thought provoking piece.