The point of "testing" is to provide for every student, an opportunity to demonstrate their competency.
Qualified teachers don't need testing companies to write their tests for them. They can create their own "course end" tests.
APS chemistry teachers, for example, are eminently qualified to create an accurate and dependable evaluation instrument to measure learning in any aspect of chemistry. The same could be said for teachers in every other discipline. We can create our own valid and reliable tests.
An independent and impartial test center can be created, where anyone can take certification tests, anytime, and having arrived there by any path. Any "student" who accumulates enough certifications in required areas of study, has certified their worthiness of a diploma.
Resistance will come from those who are in the business of public education, deeply invested in buildings and administrators; spending our power and resources trying to educate groups of students at once. It is in their interests to create and maintain a monopoly on testing; the choke point in education and accountability.
Problems only exist where there are no solutions, or where real solutions are either ignored or languish unsolicited. No one of us, has a better solution than all of us. The best solutions to the problems of testing will come from teachers and community members, not from testing companies and politicians.
Regrettably, there is no venue in the APS where teachers and other community members can engage in open and honest public discussion about testing.
There is no venue in the APS where community members can engage in open and honest public discussion about anything; student discipline, chronically disruptive students, character education, the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS, or any other legitimate issue.
You may, if you would like to, summarize your thoughts on testing or on any other legitimate issue, and recite them to the board during a public forum. You will have two minutes; no matter what.
They will not respond to your questions.
They may even, not pay any attention to you at all.
photo Mark Bralley
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