Tester: Fewer tests, more learning

Teachers should be allowed to teach and students should be allowed to learn, says Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and required federal testing of students is making it harder for those things to happen.

To combat this, the senator has introduced legislation to reduce the number of federally mandated tests.

Federal No Child Left Behind rules, which went into effect in 2002, require yearly language arts and math testing of public school students in grades 3 through 8, and once in high school.

Prior to that law taking effect, Tester said, schools were required to test once each in elementary, middle and high school.

Tester argued that annual federal testing eats up valuable classroom time and requires teachers to “teach to the test,” instead of tailoring their lesson plans to the individual needs of their students.

“Students shouldn’t be spending most of their time in school filling out bubbles, Tester said. “That’s not the kind of education that fosters critical thinking or creativity. Students shouldn’t be learning for the test, they should be learning for life.”

Many educators agreed with Tester’s position.

“As a 25-year veteran educator who taught prior and post NCLB, I find Sen. Tester’s bill a welcome relief to the senseless Test Stress classroom educators and students have endured for 15 years,” said Melanie Charlson, a teacher and president of the Missoula Education Association. “The instructional time lost to expensive, mandatory tests is shameful. Returning to grade-span testing is a reasonable solution. Time to actually teach to each students needs will be allowed. I applaud Senator Tester for his action in correcting the NCLB debacle.”