The No Child Left Behind Act, the No Child Right Behind Act, or whatever federal, state or local programs that emphasize tests, tests, and more tests, and even more tests on top of the tests that students are already being tested on, are bad ideas based in good intentions. When salary is tied to students' test performance, guess what, the test scores are going to improve just like magic, or just like teachers spent a couple hours in the staff room erasing answers and marking in the right ones.
There is a difference between tests to control pass or fail and the tests the government requires in order to evaluate teachers and schools. I think students are government-tested entirely too much. In my day, the kids had one official statewide test at the end of the year, period, end of story, and even that one was a week-long hassle and detracted from learning. Testing is not learning. Testing is just a gimmick to appease anxious parents/voters.
It is no great mystery why Johnny Stupid can't design rocket ships. Stupid kids with stupid parents are not going to perform well, and no amount of effort by teachers will change that. No amount of government money thrown down the toilet is going to change that, either. Until stupid people start using birth control, there are going to continue to be a lot of stupid kids in the world. The answer to education problems is a nineteen cent condom along with an instructional video on how to use it.
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