School Testing In U.S. Costs $1.7 Billion, But That May Not Be Enough: Report (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...)
Should I be surprised that the Huffington Post has published an interview with David Coleman, president of the College Board, the company that administers the SATs, in which Mr. Coleman says America spends too little on testing? Gee. The president of a testing company says the US should spend more money on testing. And the president of GM thinks we should buy more cars. And the owners of coal mines think we should forget about green energy. And the Republican party thinks the rich need more tax cuts. How can a journalist write this kind of story without exposing it for what it is?
By the way, it isn’t just the money that is wasted through standardized testing. Standardized testing wastes some things that are far more valuable than money, things that are difficult to measure such as time, imagination, discovery, creativity and critical thought. Other bloggers, authors and educators have written on this issue ad nauseam…and the people who control the purse strings refuse to listen. In twenty-five years we will look back at this business-model-for-efficiency-in-education-fiasco and ask ourselves what was the craziness that got into us.