Sometimes, the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.
- Diane Ravitch, Guggenheim Fellow & Historian of Education
At one time, the purpose of the public schools, at least theoretically, was to educate children; now it is to produce higher FCAT scores, by whatever means necessary. If school officials believed that ingesting lizard meat improved FCAT performance, the cafeterias would be serving gecko nuggets.
- Dave Barry, nationally renowned humorist
There isn't a standardized test on earth that can measure innovation, invention, creativity, tenacity, or kindness. There isn’t a standardized test on earth that can measure how well a teacher teaches or how well a student learns.
- Kelly Barnhill, Newberry Award Winner
There is something deeply hypocritical in a society that holds an inner-city child only eight years old "accountable" for her performance on a high-stakes standardized exam but does not hold the high officials of our government accountable for robbing her of what they gave their own kids six or seven years before.
- Jonathan Kozol, National Book Award Winner
Under Gov. Jeb Bush, the FCAT program morphed into a monster that punishes struggling schools and, by default, the students who attend them. Bonuses offered to better-scoring schools and their staffs have perverted the test into a cash grab for grown-ups, with mixed results for the kids
- Carl Hiaasen, Newberry Award Winner
The last three decades have largely been a huge money-grab by testing companies and their government pawns.
- Jim Trelease, author Read-Aloud Handbook
When asked about their most meaningful school experiences, my friends vividly recall the books their teachers read aloud, the art projects they produced, the plays they performed, and the poetry they recited. These are precisely the things that teachers tell me they can no longer do because they are required to devote more and more time to standardized tests. It saddens me to think of what today’s students are missing.
- David LaRochelle, author, illustrator, & former teacher
Teaching has become a soulless industrial education complex where the administration cares more about test scores than their faculty or students. I have loved teaching many of you. But it is time to ride into the sunset and find happiness again.
- Jonathan Carroll, Florida teacher on why he resigned