I know you didn't go to school in Massachusetts, but regarding "teaching to the test:" when the current statewide test (MCAS) got started when I was in middle school, it was very controversial. And yet, Massachusetts turns out students on par with countries with the best education systems in the world.

I'm not saying these two things are definitively linked. And I'm not saying that it makes sense to apply a one size fits all approach to every student, for obvious reasons. But tests are extremely valuable tools to evaluate the performance of students and schools and take action to improve things, and the data shows that pretty clearly. I'm pretty sure tests are important tools in the countries that are highly ranked on education. So maybe that's not the problem.

I don't pretend to know anything about education, but it's a more complex problem than most people really realize or acknowledge. Everyone's an expert for some reason - even though there's actual expertise and data to guide innovation and improvements in how we tackle it. For some reason, education is one of those fields where the general population is really resistant to the idea that actual research, expertise and informed opinion are required for solid policy-making.