Testing Nonsense!

So this past week I have been in  a school filling in as a "bathroom monitor" with first/second grade boys. (That's a sad commentary in itself!) But the purpose of this post is to talk about another thing that seems to be garnering a lot of focus these days in the realm of education: high-stakes testing!

As a former classroom teacher, I know the drudgery of prepping students for an exam that does nothing more than test how well they can parrot back information that their already overworked teachers have drilled into their heads since Day One.

So in preparation for these high-stakes tests that our states pay hundreds of millions of dollars on, teachers all across the state do all they can to pump up their students with colorful signs with reminders:

"Get a good night's sleep!"

"Eat a good breakfast!"

"Read the question and the answer choices carefully!"

"Go back and check over your work!"

and the list goes on and on. 

But now..we have gone from colorful signs to this...Teachers rapping!

  Now, I am all for grabbing students where they are, but at what cost? 

We also have teachers going to such lengths as flash mobs to popular songs all in an effort to getting students FIRED UP for testing!

What are your thoughts? Are we throwing our professionalism out the window all in an effort to help our students parrot back info that most won't use?

Let me know in the comments below!