There is little time for creative projects or class field trips, such as in Pinellas County this year, where schools canceled field trips to the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society festival because it coincided with test preparation the week before the FCAT was administered. Under the state system, a school's grade and therefore the money it and its teachers receive are tied to test scores, which makes teachers feel more pressure than ever to make sure students receive higher scores. This seems so unfair to me. I have the greatest teachers who work hard to prepare us for success. To have their own successes measured by a little black oval seems grossly negligent.
Some students are great at taking tests.
Some are not. Teachers should not be penalized for this, especially when some students are trying to do their best. Testing is just one way to measure what a student knows. My teachers refer to learning styles that individualize the way we learn. All of us do not learn the same way, so it is easy to see why our testing styles should be different also.