Why standardized testing is bad

I've written against standardized testing on other forums. I have some thoughts.

Yesterday's Boston Herald ran a column by Joe Sciacca on a Winchendon student who confronted Governor Romney, standing next to the special needs student she was tutoring, demanding to know what could be done for this student who would never pass the MCAS, the MA standardized test. Her internship was dropped.

Last week's Boston Phoenix ran an article on Hispanic students who are held back at the ninth grade in order to avoid the 10th grade (final) MCAS exam to keep scores high. Discouraged, these Hispanic students drop out in droves.

A year ago, an honors student who immigrated from Cambodia as a preschooler and who was accepted by Harvard spoke out on behalf of other, more recent immigrants who have been speaking and reading English less than two years. How can they pass the MCAS she asked?

I am against these tests. Most are the creation of for profit corporations looking for something to do to make money. The tests are created the way some kids fill out work sheets: look in the indices of books for words and ideas that are familiar, go to the content and compose a test. At least in MA, teachers vetted those tests.

The problem is the vetting teachers were some of the state's finest and they were pulled from the classroom for up to two years (I believe), depriving students of inspiration, although perhaps creating for these professionals a change of pace.

Running out of computer time and have more to say. What do you think?