President Obama, it isn't the standardized tests that are the problem!  This is the difficulty with too many cooks in the kitchen, and no recipe.  Everyone has an opinion, objections, suggestions, and solutions, even the POTUS.  All the presumed solutions are exhausting the system and do little to improve the system for the students. First, there has to be time spent truly discovering what the issues are. We need standards, measures, 21st century curriculum, interventions, supports, and ongoing training.  The last rock on the pile of problems was the standardized test rock. So if we take that rock off the pile, we are still left with the pile of challenges exist just under that one. There are competing solutions all focused on an assumed root cause.  There are layers of these solutions that now have landed on the shoulders of the students. This last straw that broke the camel's back is the amount of standardized testing. Too much?  Who placed the requirement there in the first place and why? The answer, he admitted, was partially in the hands of lawmakers.  Read more...