There have been reports of teachers and school administrators padding their schools' scores by assigning test questions as homework, holding coaching sessions for groups of students, and correcting answers after the tests have been handed in. The most recent allegations of cheating involved teachers at Silver Spring International Middle School in Montgomery County, who allegedly photocopied the Maryland Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills in March and distributed it among math instructors. Five teachers and two school officials have been suspended, and all sixth-graders at the school will have to take the test over. Neither our children nor our teachers need them. Parents do not demand them.
Standardized tests provide the opposite of accountability.
Give schools the resources they need commensurate with their mission, and put strong, effective principals in charge of each school. The problem with this recipe is that those students with the greatest need tend to come from families with the least political power. There is no political reward for serving the poor. This is why politicians embrace standardized testing. Suddenly, school funding has been transformed from a right to a privilege.