The money to pay for the tests and the test preparation materials comes from the districts’ budgets funded by our taxes. Almost 12% of my property taxes go to LAUSD. It is an appalling usage, especially to a teacher in LAUSD!
In order to pay for the tests, districts such as LAUSD:
- Increased class sizes;
- Laid off school counselors, librarians, support people, custodians, and office clerks;
- Cut art, music, sports, and gifted programs;
- Reduced teacher salaries and health benefits.
Do you as a parent appreciate of this?
Who benefits from the tests and test scores? Not the teachers or the students. The publishers certainly do.
If there was only one test per school year (and one is all you need), just imagine how rich the schools would be with staff and programs; and how complete the education would be without the extreme pressure on the teachers and the students to continually raise tests scores. Unless the districts use the money to hire more administrators.