cease the harmful public education policies relying on standardized testing

Current education policy has taken the focus off the learner and the common sense out of education in public schools. By basing public school funding and educator evaluation decisions so heavily on standardized tests, the end product of an education is diminished. Instead of using tests to inform and empower professional educators in public schools, or focusing on developing capable and motivated life-long learners, policy is imposing standard goals and mandating a time consuming barrage of testing-locking teachers and students into a school year focused on data benchmarks instead of appropriate learning goals. To allow bad policies, for-profit testing and publishing companies, and school reform/privatization groups to further diminish our public schools is wrong.