“What is the plan for this year?” One of the teachers asked as the teachers sat around the science classroom discussing the plan for the upcoming school year. Planets and comets hung from the popcorn ceiling of the science room, as the teachers tried to fit in the last month of planning. Most of the school year was planned, but the teachers faced one obstacle. Standardized testing took out about a month from the school year and they still had lessons they needed to complete. With papers, projects and quizzes, they still had lots to plan. The standardized tests blocked them from the last weeks of school, leaving them out of moves like a chess game. A teacher sighed in frustration, scribbling notes on a piece of paper. This is the problem that faces every school teacher since standardized tests became …show more content…
In school systems all across the country schools prepare students all year long for testing. A student has to practice over and over up to 25 hours a year in preparation for standardized test. Many taking over 8 government required test plus regular core class test such as, math, social studies, English, science and most likely also a foreign language. (Study Reveals How Many 1). A study from 2015 shows how much documented time is spent on standardized testing. “Between pre-K and 12th grade, students took about 112 mandatory standardized exams. The study analyzed the time spent actually taking the tests, but it did not include the hours devoted to preparation ahead of the testing required by the federal government, states or local districts. It also did not include regular day-to-day classroom quizzes and tests in reading, math, science, foreign languages and more.” (Study Reveals How Many 1). This illustrates that students are being taught to learn what is on the test, not what they actually need to