On the good news front...
It's pretty much confirmed that we will not have standardized state testing at the end of the year since everybody is busy dry-humping Common Core.
What does that mean to your humble narrator? I don't have to cover
everything in the freaking text. I can go back to what it was like before there was a History portion on the state test.
If I want to skim over the American System or the Nullification Crisis in favor of spending more time on something I think is more interesting/relevant I can.
Explain this to me like I smoked dope through HS and went to college for one day.
So, you don't have to "teach the test" anymore?
Yes. Even though we were never supposed to "teach to the test". This is what it sounds like coming from a higher-up
"Tests are just one yardstick."
"I'd really like to see our numbers go up."
"Don't teach to the test. Your lessons should incorporate all of the standards anyway."
"Make sure you cover Reconstruction. There seem to be a lot of questions on that last year."
"Standardized tests are just a tiny window into one day of one week of one school year."
"I bet we can improve by 4-6% this year!"