Standards operating procedure Will testing push leave children
behind or move them ahead? By Greg Botelho (CNN) – Statistics
show that the typical American high school senior can find the
Mississippi River on a map but doesn't know the significance of
the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and isn't aware that Canada is the
United States' top trading partner. To supporters of more
standardized testing of American students, the statistics show
that the typical American student needs to do better and know
more. Yet opponents of the standardization push sweeping the
nation's schools said they worry that the move toward increased
assessment testing ignores the growing diversity among American
students. There is no such thing, they say, as a 'typical'
American student. "There are so many differences among kids --
the whole idea of public education is managing those
differences," said Mark Townsend, president of the Colorado PTA.
"Kids are individuals, and teaching is not one size fits all."
Federal and state legislatures h