One problem with standardized assessments is that learning and learners aren't, by human nature, standardized. The other problem with standardized tests is that they only measure what a child knows at one specific moment of one specific day. True student performance is much more complex than what can be measured by such a binary system. Learning is developmental and variable, so any assessments should be personalized.

For that to happen effectively, the teacher has to be a master of the craft. She needs to be able to diagnose, prescribe, instruct, and evaluate each individual in their classroom. Too many in the profession can't do all four effectively. Too many teachers, thanks to ridiculous standardized measurement systems that take away three of the four components from the teacher, are left professionally impotent and helpless.

A teacher needs to be able to assess, formally or informally, what a child knows and help them progress along an established, natural continuum. For the teacher, such assessment is constant, from the beginning of a lesson until the end. I always found the time I had to spend preparing for and having the kids take a standardized test as a waste of valuable, limited instructional time. Standardized assessments administered simply to appease some arbitrary political goal are defeating.
[Post edited by Newt at 03/23/2018 9:22PM]