Standardized exams returned to the front pages with emphasis on the excessive time devoted to producing good exam results. Less directly addressed is whose vested interests are being served. School districts, administrators and teachers all want to look good, and who doesn’t? But is that why we have schools?
Did the student really learn (retain long term) anything, or was it a successful cram for an exam? Periodic tests of a subject as it is being taught can be a teaching tool, as well as a measurement of mastery, while a standardized exam at the beginning of the year, immediately following a summer break, will provide a better measurement of the long-term education success of the student and school.
Keeping transferred students’ records associated with the school they attended would be comparable to tracking those who frequently change addresses and receive welfare benefits and would be facilitated by a statewide database of students, which could potentially create savings for individual schools, but don’t let that distract from the objective of measuring long-term learning.
