No Child Tested Too Often

Last week, outgoing Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama announced their desire for states (and the federal government) to re-evaluate the duration and function of standardized testing. Their hope: that a student would spend no more than 2% of their classroom instruction time on testing sessions.

This article by the New York Times provides a great summary of the announcement and the hopes outlined by Congress.

Obama Administration Calls for Limits on Testing in Schools

Reading this article got me thinking about my own conflicts with testing and prompted me to reflect on the following questions:

1. What role should standardized testing take in the educational process?
2. How do these tests impact various student sub-groups differently? (reference my previous post for some additional insight)
3. What role should the federal government play in the testing process? State and local governments?
4. What role do (or should) teachers and educators play in the development of these assessments?
5. What role do (or should) teachers and educators play in the grading and evaluation of these assessments?

I do not claim to know the answers to these questions (or the dilemma of standardized testing) but definitely think they are worth considering when discussing the future of testing in our schools.

Update: 10/27/15:

As if by coincidence, this topic was a focus of last night's PBS Newshour. Watch the interview with outgoing Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools Michael Casserly.