Lower Test Scores?

From this morning's Columbus Dispatch:

....Results from the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, for Ohio show that 38 percent of fourth-graders are proficient in reading and 45 percent in math.

In eighth grade, 36 percent of students scored proficient in reading and 35 percent in math.

While higher than the national average, Ohio’s results were lower than the state’s 2013 NAEP scores. Ohio scores have shown no gain in more than a decade....

Teachers and students are spending less time involved in instruction and learning, while more time is used in test preparation and testing. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that testing has taken over a large part of the school year and that cuts down on reading and math time. On top of that, students and teachers have become anxious about testing days, and performance has been damaged. There is just too much emphasis on testing.