I worked in a school last year (tutoring) and the school went crazy with the state-standardized testing. They prepped for MONTHS, had rallies, etc. I pulled kids out of classes and one girl always looked depressed when I picked her up (I always picked her up when they were prepping for the test) and said that all anyone ever talks about is the XYZ (state) test and she doesn't understand the big deal about this test. I told her not to worry about the test and the last thing she should do is worry about it, it's just something that the school needs to focus on because they get money from it. As soon as I said it I realized I probably should have just kept my mouth shut, but I can see how some teachers might be making negative comments if they don't buy into the whole thing. At the school I was in, everyone seemed to buy into it and accepted the whole notion of extensively prepping for it, which I thought was rather strange. It really actually bothered me because these educators didn't seem to be even THINKING about it or have an opinion one way or another. Every once in a while I made a snarky comment about it in the break room and got blank stares. And we trust that they are intelligent enough to teach our kids?