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Recently, I read that the whole over-emphasis on standardized test scores has been taken to a new level. It seems officials in the San Marcos, California, school district want to reward students who score high on the annual state standardized tests by increasing their classroom grades.

It seems especially high school students are not very motivated to try hard year after year on annual tests. What's in it for them? High test scores on annual state achievement tests are not linked to course grades or even college acceptance. So students are not taking them seriously. This worries teachers and principals who are often judged solely on how their students perform on the tests.

(Read the complete San Marcos "Grade Bump" story in the San Diego Union-Tribune)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20070328-9999-1mi28smgrade.html

What is wrong, you may ask, with rewarding students who study hard and score high?

Plenty, in my opinion.

One of the big problems with these annual standardized tests is that in many states they are not linked to the classroom curriculum. In other words, they are not really testing what the students are learning on a daily basis.

It is no wonder this huge disconnect between curriculum and test results in students not taking the exams seriously.

By the time this generation of kids makes it to high school they have been tested to death. And what do they get for all their hard work?

MORE tests!

SAT anyone?

GRE?

MCAT?