As we get into another school year, our teachers are faced with the fact of trying to balance teaching, or strategies for standardized testing.

Some students are petrified of exams, they know the information, but somehow can not arrange it correctly on test day.

I can not understand how can students perform to expectation for a 12-year period of time, and to be told according to their scores on their standardize test, they will not be receiving their diploma. Are teachers no longer teaching critical-thinking skills, problem-solving techniques and other higher-level thinking processes.

Some are teaching, or at least trying to teach the students how to perform well on “the test.” The anxiety continues to mount, particularly on those schools, or school districts, who are struggling to keep on course.

Whose bright idea was it to come up with a test that possibly would take creativity, critical-thinking and ingenuity out of the classroom?

Whatever happened to our recognizing the relationship that is built over the course of a school year between a teacher and their student?

And why should we believe some test scores instead of the evaluation of a teacher?

Sometimes things happen to students on CRCT exam day: Some deal with hunger, anxiety, fatigue or violence at home, divorce or maybe it’s not a good day for a test. Teachers who know their students also know when they are not performing up to the best of their ability—something standardized test could never assess.

Rev. Jeff Mills
Cairo, Ga.