I've always been a "good test taker."
I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is an engineering student at GA Tech. She lamented that she had four tests this month. I warned her that, depending on what career she ended up in, she'd still be taking tests even after she graduated.
I work in IT. As part of my job, I'm expected to learn new skills on the fly, or polish up old ones. Getting a new certification each year is not outside the bounds of normalcy here. Often the cert is in a related field to something I've already done, but that means learning all the new jargon for that particular organization. And of course, practicing their tests.
Tests, tests, everywhere tests. STEM graduates will be taking tests forever. Even a PhD isn't enough to completely eliminate them, as my husband has to renew some of his certifications every couple of years. Which means taking the test again.
Why, then, are standardized tests so villainized at the lower levels? I do think we test too often (at the beginning AND the end of the school year - really?), but I'm not so sure about too early.
The earlier young students get used to the idea of one on one time with a computer or a piece of paper, the less intimidating it will be as they move on to secondary school. "Teaching to the test" isn't necessarily a bad thing if the test itself is comprehensive on its particular subject matter. (Bad tests are a whole 'nother can of worms and beyond the scope of this diary.)
The pattern of preparing for a test is itself a skill that will be required for life in some professions. I'm sitting here writing up flash cards - yes, flash cards! - for my upcoming ITIL Foundations test in a few weeks. Reading the text book, learning the vocabulary, and learning the vagaries of the particular test are all study skills that a student had to pick up on at some point. If they got it in high school, they probably did well and went on to college. If they coasted in high school on innate knowledge and didn't pick up good study habits, they're in for a rude awakening in college.
Continuous learning classes tend to be fairly softball, and those count for credits in fields that require them, but when it's time to renew some kind of license, you better have done more than just take a few CL classes over the past five years.
Tests are scary. But in our certification happy world, even some vocational students will have to prepare for and pass a test in order to get a job. All those shiny certificates on your auto mechanic's wall? Proof that at some point he was able to take and pass a test, thus confirming that he sort of knows what he's doing. Your hair dresser? She's had the State Board breathing down her neck since the first week when she was in cosmetology school.
You may be in a career where you don't have to take your certifications more than once. If so, please share with us. You may be in a job that doesn't even require the constant cycle of verification and renewal - they took your BA at face value.
But that's not where I landed, and it's not where most of the kids in school today are going to end up. Tests are a way of life for some careers.
The sooner they get used to the pattern of the standardized test, the more time they can spend on actually learning and growing.
Edit: To clarify, as I've discussed in the comments, this is not a defense of using tests to measure the worth of a teacher or a school. I think that's pointless and quite unfair.
I'm simply pointing out that test taking is not just a school skill, it's also unfortunately a life skill today.