How many more state DOEs and supporters of testing will falsely claim that time spent on testing is almost immeasurable?
FACT: Students who are tested spend fewer than six and a half hours taking the tests required by federal and state law during each school year. Keep in mind that each school year is at least 180 days long, and each instructional day is a minimum of five hours long in grades 1-6 and a minimum of six hours in grades 7-12. When considered in perspective, six and a half hours (or less, depending on grade level) out of a minimum of 900 is a reasonable amount of time to spend on tests required by federal and state law.
Look I get pi$$ed when I read these claims but maybe we should see this “push back” as evidence that our message (truth) is starting to scare the testing (drug) pushers.
Anyway, I invite readers of @the chalk face to please correct Indiana’s DOE in the comment section below. How much time is really spent on testing? How much does it really cost to buy the testing advocates’ heroin?
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acuity testing ( state required) 4 X a year…7.5 hours yearly, AIMS web benchmarks (3 X a year, whole class) 4.5 hours, progress monitoring. ( RTI kids) 1.5 hours, STAR reading ( whole class 3 X a year) 1.5 hours, Math benchmarks, ( whole class 4 X a year) 3 hours, ISTEP ( whole class, 2 x a year) 8 hours approx. GRAND TOTAL….26 hours, that is only outside the regular curriculum testing. TOO MUCH!
They should just be honest. Our schools are test-prep factories and the curriculumn is basically a year long preparation for the test.