Benchmark. MAP. STAAR. Testing. An endless stream of questions, data, and standardization.

Teachers and students lose precious classroom time to tests and the preparation for these tests. They lose time that is meant for socialization and imagination. They lose time meant for independent thinking. They lose the true essence of learning.

Though the district has little control over the state and federal mandates, they do have control over district-based assessments like benchmarks and MAP testing.

Students are so tired of being tested that by the time they get to the tests that actually count, they are burnt out. 

And though districts pay employees to pore over the data from these tests, it is questionable how much truth can be found in those numbers from a single moment in time.

MAP testing, in particular, has become a thorn in the side of teachers and students without a direct educational benefit and merely seems to serve as a way for the state to give the appearance that they value good teachers.

The MAP test is used as a measure of how effective a teacher is at students learning and is tied directly to incentive pay.

Students see MAP as another test – actually four tests three times a year – that they have to endure.

Though the theory behind benchmark testing seems to make sense by having students practice the actual test scenario, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits.

Taking a shorter test with a sampling of questions could easily provide the same results and experience without wasting value time or creating excessive mental anguish for both the student and the educator.

Educators talk endlessly about how over tested students are, yet the people in charge seem to continue on the same path because it is how they have always done things – which is the worst reason to do anything.

Students deserve better. Students deserve to learn. Teachers deserve to teach. Education is more than numbers.

–The Norseman Staff