High Stakes Testing and the Human Heart

I loathe high-stakes testing. 

I really do.  

As an educator, I loathe it because it takes away from instruction time.  It is used to judge teachers, even though the test often doesn't really show how a teacher does or what a student has learned in class. It is used to judge students, even though there are far better ways to assess student ability, achievement, and progress. 

As a citizen, I loathe it as a waste of money. Testing companies and publishing empires (cough *Pearson* cough) are making millions of dollars off of a run-schools-like-businesses model that is harmful and foolish. Once for-profit corporations are involved, nothing is objective, nothing can be trusted in the same way.  

But as a human, a mom, a person with a heart, I despise high-stakes testing. 

Have you ever seen a child cry because they were given a math problem that they have never even seen before?
I have. 

Have you seen a child's spirit broken because they feel like they should know how to do a question that is beyond their ability simply because it is on their test that is based on grade level, not ability level? 
I have. 

Have you seen a child totally overwhelmed by a question that is needlessly complicated or wordy?
I have.

Have you seen a child fumble through a test because they have difficulty operating a mouse or mouse pad or some other technological device that has nothing to do with reading or math ability?
I have. 

Have you seen a student question themselves, their intelligence, their ability, their future, because of a test question that they have been told is crucial to their education but is really not?
I have.

Have you ever seen a child burst into tears because they didn't understand part A of a math problem so they, by default, couldn't do part B (graph part A) or part C (explain your answer), leading one mistake to feel like three, a cascade of failure?
I have.

Why do we do this to our children? 

The answer is because we don't trust teachers. 

Children's teachers know how they are doing. They know who understands and who doesn't. They teach, assess, reteach, reassess all year long.  

That should be enough. 

But it isn't. 

So, instead, we are harming our kids, taking away instructional time, adding needless worry and stress, and crushing fragile self-confidence. And for what? 

A test that does one of the following: 
A) Gives results nobody cares about
B) Gives results that are useless or invalid
C) Gives corporations data that they can use to gain greater influence in the money pool of education while not enhancing education at all. 
D) All of the above. And more. None of it good or valuable. 

The answer, of course, is D. 

A heartbreaking, soul-sucking D.  And it should infuriate everyone.