President Barack Obama talked in a recent video posted on Facebook about how students are spending too much time on too much tests, plenty of which are deemed unnecessary. He also called out to school officials to take the steps necessary to curb down the number of tests and focus on creating meaningful exams.
''Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble. So we're going to work with states, school districts, teachers and parents to make sure that we're not obsessing about testing," Obama said in the video, according to USA Today.
To show that the president is serious about addressing the issue, an Oval Office meeting will be held on Monday to tackle the issue with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, together with school officials and teachers.
Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton also showed support for the cause.
"We should be ruthless in looking at tests and eliminating them if they do not actually help us move our kids forward," she said in a statement, the New York Daily News reported.
"The time is now to take some new and meaningful steps to help schools deal with testing where it is unnecessary. This is something the president and I have talked about, and it will be a key priority for me in our work with states and districts over the next 14 months," said John King, who is slated to succeed Education Secretary Arne Duncan in January, according to The Washington Post.
Students in the U.S. take 112 standardized tests from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade on average, while countries that outperform the U.S. on international exams only have three tests during their entire school careers.
