Beyond the Bubble

During the past twenty years, the American education system has turned towards standardized testing to determine whether or not a student has mastered specific skills. In an article titled http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/07/beyond-the-bubble-test-how-will-we-measure-learning/ teachers give their view of standardized testing to an interviewer. Many of the teachers interviewed claim that they are forced to teach to the test. Meaning that their curricula is molded into an exact replica of what they believe will be on state examinations. Additionally, class time is wasted preparing for these exams. This is one problem that many teachers have with these types of tests. Not only do they make teachers edit their curricula, they also take away time from instruction. One alternative that is mentioned in this article is having these test done electronically, and have the questions be based on real world scenarios. Not only is this more time conscious, it is more pragmatic. I agree with offering students the option of taking tests electronically, instead of paper-pencil exams.