Testing: Good for Students or Testing Companies?

This 2006 Bloomberg report remains a very good read for anyone who has not taken a close look at the standardized testing world. The same people who we pay to create the standardized tests make twice as much money prepping students to take their tests.

The U.S. is in a testing frenzy. Students in the 92,816 American public schools will take at least 45 million standardized reading and math exams this year [2006]. That number will jump to 56 million in the 2007-2008 school year, when states begin testing science as part of the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law, the most comprehensive education overhaul in half a century. Beyond No Child, tens of millions of additional tests assess college hopefuls, certify future stockbrokers and even evaluate preschoolers.

And many are highly critical of their effectiveness.