Each bag contains black and white marbles. These standards are often impossibly high and age-inappropriate. This is not high standards. This is nuts. The tests are very destructive educationally.
Education is reduced to memorization of disconnected facts.
The tests have predictably negative effects on students. In Texas and Florida, which began high stakes tests several years ago, thousands of young people, especially black and Hispanic students, have dropped out of school. They're convinced that they'll never pass the MCAS and they've given up. The tests put extreme psychological pressure on young and vulnerable people. Many parents report that their children are under greatly increased stress, while many teachers speak of the climate of fear in the schools.