We now return to your regularly scheduled programming
Wasn't anticipating a break from blogging over the weekend, but I had to work on my house and on my lectures for stats class. Got a little more breathing room now, time-wise...
Students in Indiana are preparing for the ISTEP+ onslaught, and some feel the pressure may be too great:
[The ISTEP+ is] given to third-, sixth-, eighth- and 10th-graders, [and] has gained in weightiness, becoming the test by which the state and federal government measures success in its schools. The country's No Child Left Behind act stipulates who will take -- and must pass -- the ISTEP+ test. Indiana Public Law 221 calls for marked improvement in test scores each year, threatening school choice or funding cuts if scores don't come up.
I'm not sure "weightiness" is a word, but I understand what the writer is trying to convey. The ISTEP+ has an impact on the schools, and it impacts the students directly - at some schools, students who don't pass the ISTEP+ go into remediation courses. The concerns listed are the usual "the teachers are stressed, so the students are stressed" comments. Also as usual, there is no information listed to support the conclusions that (a) students are so stressed so as to be negatively affected, rather than simply motivated, and (b) education is being harmed by the tests, despite the fact that these sorts of article usually push readers in the direction of such conclusions. Students are motivated. The pressure is on. No information is given, though, to show why that's a bad thing.