As a parent with kids who struggled (actually, performed average) on these nonsense word tests, I do think that is bullshit. If you somehow manage to cheat and get your kids to recognize all the high frequency words they need to be fluent, congratulations, you have taught them to read.

Let's keep kids' achievement measures out of the cynical distrust of our teaching staff.

Edit: Yes, I am biased. And, TheOtherHobbes made better and clearer points than me in my sister comment.