The cure is worse than the disease.

I saw an Internet meme that asked, why aren’t our test scores going up? After all we have cut music, art, PE, recess and put in a three hours of remedial reading and math plus additional test prep.

I was both hysterical and profoundly sad because for many of our schools especially those in neighborhoods wracked with poverty it is all too accurate.

Is destroying the love of learning worth an additional point or two on a standardized test? These tests by the way only give people a snap shot and not always an accurate one at that of the learning that is going on in our schools. It does however give you a road map to the poorer neighborhoods, as the schools that service them are the ones that invariably don’t do as well. 

Standardized tests, the FCAT, has sucked the joy of education out of so many teachers and students alike and switching to Common Core, an untested and expensive curriculum, that doesn’t address poverty, our real problem and siphons more money out of classrooms where it is needed and doubles down on standardized tests is not the answer.  

The cure here in Florida for our education problems is far worse than the disease.