What is it all coming to?

         Over the past several months, my son's education has emphasized a standardized test.  The children must take a "Benchmark" test in December and March in preparation for the TAKS test that they completed over the past week. Even though his grades on his report card have been some what decent, there has been so much of an emphasis on this test that his nerves have been tested, and his concentration on other areas have been lost. When I was in school, we took a test in the 3,5,7, and 10th grades. But is was not an emphasis of our every day learning. It was simply a test that we had to take. In the 10th grade, the test determined whether or not we had learned the information necessary to obtain our high school diploma.
        Is is truly necessary that each state is required to teach according to these tests? I believe that teaching children according to these tests have decreased the amount of education that our children are receiving. According to the "No Child Left Behind Act", one of the purposes of the act is ,"ensuring that high-quality academic assessments, accountability systems, teacher preparation and training, curriculum, and instructional materials are aligned with challenging State academic standards so that students, teachers, parents, and administrators can measure progress against common expectations for student academic achievement;" No where, does the document mention the funding of the school.  A better question is who sets the state's standards? What are the common expectations? Although I am not against the original intent of the Act, I must say that the emphasis has now been placed on the "exemplary" rating of the school, and our children's education is suffering. Now, more then ever, children are less prepared for places of higher education and must spend their first semesters in remedial classes to assist in bringing them up to college standards.
          I feel it is essential, in order for our future generations to receive a beneficial education, that the emphasis not be placed on a standardized test. That the emphasis be placed on our children actually learning, academically and socially, skills that they can carry with them in to their adult lives. I think it is sad that the government has enforced these rules on our education system, and that this is what it is all coming to.


***For the original documentation of the No Child Left Behind Act, please refer to www.2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pgl.html#sec1001