There is a lot of weight put on students and teachers when it comes to testing and evaluating what’s going on in the classroom. One of the biggest ways our schools measure perceived success is standardized test scores and whether kids are measuring up to their peers. Unfortunately, after all these years and all the testing, test scores aren’t improving. In this excerpt from my book, Being Visual, I explain the problem with basing so much instruction on teaching only the subjects that can be tested.

\”Over the years, the amount of valuable classroom instruction time devoted to testing has increased dramatically. Standardized testing is now used in such excess that it rules the education process. Test results drive funding and determine curriculum. With so much at stake for schools, teaching to tests has increased, lessening instruction in other “less relevant” subject areas. The subjects getting funded are the ones getting tested; they are linear, logical, linguistic subjects. It’s a vicious cycle that isn’t working for most children.

Sadly, this has had a profound effect on our children and education as a whole. We’re in an education gridlock. Teachers know it. Parents know it. Kids know it. Testing increasingly drives what’s happening in our classrooms, yet our test scores are not getting any better. There’s an enormous disservice being done to our students whose true capabilities are going unnoticed and undeveloped. Teachers are frustrated. Parents are baffled. Kids are bored. Classrooms grow duller while ADD and ADHD are on the rise.\”

I’m so passionate about education and, as a parent advocate, I know you are too. Our children are not getting their strengths fed in test heavy classrooms. They aren’t getting the chance to demonstrate their learning in ways that really reflect how they process ideas. Our kids are a lot more interested in learning beyond testing. They are curious, visual, creative, hands on learners that want school to be a lot more satisfying. Teachers want fewer tests and more freedom to teach the way they know kids learn best. Our kids need to learn in ways that feed their curiosity, suit their learning style and allow them to be creative. Join me in my mission to get schools to see the value of “the other” subjects again by reading my book, Being Visual: Raising a Generation of Innovative Thinkers, for sale on Amazon. I would love to hear what you think.