NYC 3rd Graders Take 12 Tests Per Year

From Newsday:

NEW YORK (AP) _ The city's public school students are facing too many standardized tests, many of which are mandated by the city but not required by law, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said Thursday in releasing an analysis of the tests.

"Our schools have turned somewhat into testing factories," Gotbaum said, emphasizing that her concern was that teachers were focusing on the tests at the expense of subjects not covered by the exams.

In her analysis, Gotbaum said city third-graders were taking 12 tests an academic year, including nine city assessment tests. Fourth-graders and eighth-graders had six city tests a year, she said.

Gotbaum said she wasn't against standardized testing, but "we don't need to go overboard" and she urged the city Department of Education to scale back. . . . .