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Growing Up Is True Test

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2009

Are our teachers making the grade(s)?

A good teacher keeps students engaged, fosters curiosity and has the ability to teach what is being tested. Sometimes testing or grading certain students can be as painful for them as it is for the teacher, causing a negative attitude toward that subject for life.

Our public school system relies too heavily on these standardized tests to grade all our students. Teachers have failed to measure things like complex problem-solving ability, creativity and persistence. These subjects are not tested but are used in real-life exams.

We will not fully succeed in our classrooms when our students can merely answer fact questions to get an "A" for the national obsession in standardized tests that the government has viewed as pass or fail.

Employers and college professors don't care what grade the student makes on his math test. They just want them to be able to apply the material for life to pass the hardest exam in school - growing up.

KALEIGH WAGNER

Odessa

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