As state English exams were set to be administered Tuesday and Wednesday in their usual forms for the first time in two years, the test prep culture that has taken over some New York City schools has a new high-profile critic: Chancellor David Banks.
“Under this chancellorship, I am going to use this bully pulpit to talk about the fact that tests are important, but that we are really doing our kids a disservice,” Banks said on WBAI’s “Driving Forces last month. “There’s a reason why so many of our kids disengage and drop out because we’ve just made our schools like testing mills.”
Because educators and principals are concerned about being measured by how well their students perform on the exams, they often let subjects that aren’t on the tests – such as art, music, theater and other enrichment that children enjoy – fall by the wayside, Banks said.
