High stakes testing comes under fire

High stakes testing, the centerpiece of No Child Left Behind, has come under fire in Florida and Texas, and that may be only the beginning, according to an article in today's Washington Post.
Regular Turner Report readers know I am no fan of No Child Left Behind. You won't find many teachers who are. It starts with the assumption that public schools have been deliberately leaving children behind up until this overblown law was passed.
The law demands that 100 percent of students be proficient in reading and math by 2014, which is impossible. In order for that to happen, it would mean that all students would have to care, that all parents would get involved in their children's education, that no student be sick on the day of testing...well, you get the picture.

Numerous reasons are stated in the article for this backlash against testing:

But teachers unions and some parents groups have argued that an overemphasis on the tests has reduced education to rote drills and needlessly heightened stresses on elementary students, and that the reported test gains have been illusory, overstated or short-lived.