It isn’t enough that schools are more focused on test results than actual education these days (not necessarily the teachers fault) but now there are schools that want to test kids to see how well they will test?

A testing company wants to add 10 diagnostic tests to some Manhattan public schools to predict how well the students will do on the tests that actually count. It may be harder than they think though, as many parents are speaking out against the testing for tests:

At a news conference in front of City Hall on Tuesday, the parents said they were organizing a boycott of the field tests to be given at their children’s schools ” Public Schools 40 and 116 ” later this week.

“We’re using tests to figure out how kids will test on tests,” said Jane Hirschmann, the founder and co-chairwoman of Time Out From Testing, an anti-testing group that sponsored the news conference. [The New York Times]

Of course the need to test and get results comes from not wanting to “leave any children behind.” But parents are starting to see beyond the tests and are sick of actual education getting left behind:

“I don’t think it’s going to be a strain on any particular child, but it replaces classroom teaching, and it’s a waste of everybody’s time,” said Anne Daniel, who has two daughters at P.S. 40 on East 19th Street and who said she was circulating a petition for a boycott of the field tests there. [The New York Times]

In the true spirit of not leaving our children or their education behind, there are some awesome folks out there that are working to give kids a time out from testing - and learn more about them