I’m reposting this because it was inexplicably cut off. Here is the full original…..

A decade ago, California parent Vicki Abeles created a documentary called “Race to Nowhere” about the toxic effects of high-stakes testing. She did it after a friend of her teen daughter committed suicide. Vicki took the show on the road and showed it in hundreds of communities. She wanted to start a grassroots rebellion against high-stakes testing, for the sake of the children. Instead, NCLB continued, unchanged, and Race to the Top ratcheted up the pressure on students and teachers to get higher scores than they did the year before–or face certain shame and punishment.

No matter how many times we tell children “you are more than a score,” our words count less than our actions.

Now Lisa Eggert Litvin explains yet again that high-stakes testing is harmful to the mental health of students.

The transformation of public education isn’t the only factor of course. Parents still get divorced and families still struggle financially and children still bully, with social media making it all worse. But when those issues are coupled with a high-intensity school environment, enforced by tests, with little room for down time, then the hard issues become insurmountable, and children collapse. It makes sense that the AAP report shows suicide and self-harm rates were lowest in the summer, and highest in the fall and spring.

Perhaps worst of all, this test-centric accountability model doesn’t even work. The “achievement gaps” between underserved groups and their peers still exist. In New York City, the gap has increased for African-American and Hispanic students.

It’s time to admit that the testing-based model of the NCLB law and its progeny was a mistake. The early opponents were right: the law is downright dangerous. Let’s press the restart button and re-examine how to help all students achieve. Let’s finally honestly address the roles poverty and family income play. Can it really be any surprise that school districts in affluent neighborhoods have higher test scores than their less affluent counterparts?

So was my childhood perfect? Far from it. But it was emotionally healthier for sure. There is nothing more important than making sure our children are healthy and aren’t filled with anxiety and aren’t harming themselves. Right now, let’s stop the madness of high-stakes testing. Our children are suffering — physically and mentally — and it has to end.

The writer is president of the Hastings-on-Hudson Board of Education and president emeritus of the Hastings-on-Hudson PTSA.

Maybe we have to insist on accountability. Create a score card of teen deaths and pin it on the door of every member of Congress and every legislator who voted to mandate annual testing and high-stakes for students, teachers, and schools. Insist that they take the tests they mandate and publish their scores. If they fail, they must resign.

https://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/04/04/high-stakes-testing-has-emotional-consequences-too/486105002/