I am also of the opinion that standardised education reform is the death sentence of creativity in our children.
Sir Ken Robinson is a leading author and spokesman on the subject of education and creativity and I encourage anyone with some spare time to watch some of the YouTube links below of his talks;

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc

No Poirot, we are not telling you "that individual teachers would not be aware whether or not certain children under their watch can read or not?" What we are telling you that a lot of teachers don't give a damn whether the kids can or not.

We also telling you that they will care a damn sight more, when test results show the parents exactly how bad they are, & how poorly they are serving their kids. That is why teachers, or their union fight any testing from outside.

BecM let me assure you we don't send our kids to school to be taught by any damn fool who thinks creativity can be taught. We'll look after that thanks.

We send them to school first & foremost for the "three Rs". Once school has got those to a level where the kids can function in society, we then want them given enough science to enable them to see through things like the Global warming scam, & teachers being able to teach creativity.

We would also like them to develop rational thought process, so unlike some Education Ministers, they can not be sold a pup like 'create Confident and Creative Individuals', rather than literacy. Talk about a cop out to protect the incompetent teacher.

While we allow teachers to get away with hiding their massive failure rate, the kids have no chance. So back to testing thanks, & publishing the results for all to see. Our kids deserve at least that much of testing the teachers.

Hasbeen,

Tell me how spending millions upon millions to tell teachers something they already know and to pitch school against school in the battle for funds is supposed to help those kids who have missed the boat or who come from challenged backgrounds.

Surely money would be better spent on remedial programs for children.

(Albeit, you don't seem to have picked up much, since you revel in relying on junk science and recourse to conspiracy theory for much of your climate rant)

Poirot and BecM,

You need to separate the testing from the purpose for which the results are used. Remember that the Naplan tests were going on long before the website comparison of the results. Using the results to close or punish schools is certainly going to poison the schools against the system, and I believe is the root of the failure of the system in the US.

On the other hand, I feel that it is a little rich to expect teachers to mentally be aware of the full range of the strengths and weaknesses of their pupils. While I would expect them to know if their students could not read, there are likely to be many areas where the pupil is struggling that the teacher is not aware. The Naplan test is worthwhile if for no other reason that it highlights the strengths and weaknesses. A diligent teacher or school will use this at least to get help for the students where they are struggling.

Independent schools get the results that they do precisely because they test the students at least twice a year in each subject. The exam preparation helps reinforce the learning, and the exam results show where the pupil is weak.

Wow, SM - things must have changed so much.

We used to have weekly tests on all the things we'd covered during the week on Friday mornings in primary school.

Fancy that, a "no-fuss" test without all the hoopla and bells and whistles, stress and expense of NAPLAN.

It makes you wonder how they ever turned out literate children - which they did in spades.

I'm sorry mate, but educational history is littered with nouveau psyched up paradigms which fall by the wayside almost as often as they're dreamed up. Usually it's tried and true methods that are re-adopted to try and make up for the follies.

Poirot,

Since you are not averse to testing kids (which many are), and the Hoopla around the Naplan testing only really started when the results were published, my assumption is that Hoopla is drummed up by the teachers union.

My kids are finishing high school and because I move around, have been to several public and private schools. (normally the better ones) and I have yet to see any preparation by teachers for the Naplan tests, nor have I seen any kids stressed not spoken to any parents of stressed kids. While there might be a few, I believe this to be purely anecdotal and blown out of proportion.

If you have any hard evidence I would be most grateful.