Education
Is the use of standardized testing improving education?
Barack Obama NOT CLEARLY PRO OR CON
"We have piled on a lot of standardized tests on our kids. Now, theres nothing wrong with a standardized test being given occasionally just to give a baseline of where kids are at... Too often what weve been doing is using these tests to punish students or to, in some cases, to punish schools. And so what weve said is let us find a test that everybody agrees makes sense; let us apply it in a less pressure-packed atmosphere; let us figure out whether we have to do it every year or maybe every sevral years; and lets us make sure that thats not the only way were judging if a school is doing well... So what I can do is-one thing that I never want to see happen in schools that are just teaching to test. Beaucause then youre not learning about the world; your not learning about different cultures, your not learning about science, youre not earning about math. All youre learning is how to fill out a little bubble on an exam and the little tricks that you need to do in order to take a test."Mar. 28 2011 Barack Obama
Mitt Romney-Con
"We looked at what drives good education in our state, what we found is the best thing for education is great teachers, hire the best and brightest to be teachers, pay them properly, make sure you have school choice, test the kids to see if they are meeting their standards that need to be met, and make sure that you put the parents in charge."Sep. 22 2011 Mitt Romney