A student looks at a mock CSAP test Stedman Elementary School in Denver on Feb. 1, 2010. (Denver Post file)
Re: “Did PARCC pass the test for my son?,” April 23 guest commentary.
My son’s experience with the PARCC test was very different from that of Pamela Norton’s son.
My son’s school does not have enough computers for all the students to take the test simultaneously. As a result, the school was on reduced schedule for three weeks, meaning he did not have regular classes and he and his fellow high schoolers were home every afternoon. Following those three weeks of testing, they were then off on spring break.
A month off from regular classroom instruction is too much to sacrifice in the name of measuring our competitiveness. In addition, the tests require students to show their math work on the computer. How many of us would know where to find the symbol for the quadratic equation on a standard computer keyboard?
Let’s face it — these tests are designed to help the politicians in Washington and Denver justify their constant meddling in the school system. They do nothing to help our children learn. If the politicians think the tests are so beneficial, how come so many of them send their children to private schools where the tests are not required? What hypocrites.
Colin C. Deihl,Denver
This letter was published in the April 25 edition.
