What bothered me was when I'd heard some teachers (thankfully never mine) were sending home past tests as homework for a few weeks before the test. If I had every seen that the teacher would have gotten a scathing email from me & a letter to the principal. I don't mind the test but I DO mind mindless drill to get them ready for it from an already above average school district.
We have had idiotic practice tests come home and in third grade they did prep for literally weeks. The teacher stopped giving the gifted kids their enrichment packets, because they needed to be a part of the test prep sessions. The teacher made a huge deal out of the test and said that if the kids don't do X, Y, and Z and they don't follow all the rules, then she could go to jail! I believe this is when DD's anxiety issue developed. When the schools get the scores back, they sometimes get a "reward" designation from the State. Our neighborhood school has scores that are very mediocre (the only reason the scores are as high as they are is because of parents' above average SES), but the school loves to brag about rising scores, how great they are doing as a school, etc. When they don't do as well, they blame it on the parents and the 25 percent of students on free and reduced lunch. The whole thing is a huge racket and just hearing the name of the test gets my eyes rolling. Some schools actually have test pep rallies.
