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Your fixation with standardized tests is unusual for this site. It's a complicated debate but you seem to have a strong opinion about the value of standardized tests
Some colleges don't even require them anymore [1] as you mentioned. The NEA claims they don't properly measure student value [2].
Finally, I know many children of immigrants who literally have burned out because of a singular focus on education by their parents. That's anecdotal of course and I almost stupid mentioning the steretype. However, this may be a real issue even if it's not all[3].
You have focused on these tests often in your comments. Do you have evidence these are a good measure of intelligence or ability related to either to college or the workplace?
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/us/SAT-ACT-abolish-debate...
[2]https://theeyeopener.com/2019/01/added-pressure-students-of-...
You want KPIs that you can measure that are based somehow on reality.
The problem with public education in the US is teacher’s unions fiercely fight against any sort of KPI, because they would then be evaluated on actual results. They much prefer to have bullet proof tenured jobs for life with no accountability.
We happen to be in a lousy district. Yes, Covid uniformly hurt all schools. But don’t presume to know our kids, our schools, or our context. Our public schools have always had lousy standardized test results, even pre-Covid. Post Covid it is getting worse and worse - a few weeks ago our Superintendent rejoiced that we should all just ignore those scores, because more and more colleges are not requiring SAT or ACT scores for admission. He said this and wrote it in a presentation. A celebration of ignorance. Paid for by my tax dollars.
Ugh.