National Testing Survey

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Education	Ethnicity	Sex	Group
Postdoctoral study	Caucasian	Male	Teacher
I have a friend who is a Principal at a local High School. He is responsible for administering the WASL every April. Last April during the Math day for WASL testing he discovered one of his favorite students sitting in the hall-way during the test he was supposed to be taking. My friend the Principal asked "why are you not in there taking the test" - the student replied "Mr. Jones, why would I go in there be told once again that I am a failure, I get that enough in my life, I don't need another test telling me that I suck". My friend the Principal left that interaction with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, because he knew the student's words to be true. In my town last year 8 teachers were disciplined or fired for helping students cheat on the WASL. Several of these were dedicated teachers with stllar track-records in their careers. Now why would an otherwise good teacher do that? The impact of the WASL on the confidence, competence and morale of teachers is devistating. My God-son's Middle School lost its Drama program last year due to budget cuts. That Drama progam was the one thing my God-son felt really good about in school. Last year the WASL cost my God-son's district over ten times the cost of the now terminated Drama program. I am not sure my God-son will remain in school now, he is actively consiering dropping out. I could go on. . .
Postdoctoral study	East Asian	Male	Test developer

Postdoctoral study	Latino or hispanic	Male	Other
I have a number of teachers as clients and they frequently express their frustration about having to teach content of the standardized tests, in order to fulfill the requirements set by administration regarding the acquisition of certain scores, which are totally devoid of actual learning and integration of learning, of the material memorized by rote, by the students.

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