I get a little thrill whenever something I read leads me to change a long-held belief, or even just forces me to question it. Spoiler alert: thrill coming.
I've long believed in the need for standardized testing in our schools. As I put it in "
Falling STAAR":
We should constantly examine both our teaching methods and our methods of assessing the effectiveness of our teaching. We can try cutting back on standardized testing (the direction we seem to be going). But we still need some form of standardized testing to see if that results in anything good. So, let's ease up, watch the results closely, and take care that we don't over correct.
I haven't changed my mind about any of that. It's what's done with the results of those standardized tests that I am now forced to rethink. After the jump, what leads me to that.