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Can you succeed in the standardized testing system?

Overreliance on standardized testing is failing students and educators alike. See if you can succeed as an educator in a testing environment that’s stacked against you—spoiler alert, the game just might be unwinnable.
By: NEA Staff
Published: March 2023

You have 3 minutes* to avoid these typical testing obstacles

A stack of textbooks: Good luck making it through your actual curriculum AND teaching the test!

A broken pencil: Oops! We don’t have any more working supplies for you.

A laptop: Hope all your students know how to use the provided laptops—and none of them break down!

This is a tool to illustrate the unwinnable status quo of standardized testing, but students' futures aren't a game. We call for a transformation to this system to one that is worthy of all our students.

*Why 3? That’s the number of subjects federal law requires schools to test—ELA, math, and science. So your dedicated history student, art whiz, and budding musician won’t see their hard work or talents reflected in the results.

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