In the UK, a report by the Association of School and College Leaders claims that many schools are spending more on exams than they do on textbooks.
ASCL president, Malcolm Trobe, told delegates: “The schools in the sample were spending an average of nearly 2% of their school budget on examination fees. One school was already at 3%”.
“Many schools reported spending more on examination fees than on subject capitation – books, photocopying and other learning resources.”
I wonder if anyone has done a similar study on the cost of standardized tests to US schools.
In our overly-large district I don’t think we pay for the actual tests since they come from the state.
However, we certainly do pay for a whole lot of infrastructure supporting an extensive test administration and preparation system.
Maybe we need a cost/benefit analysis for standardized testing programs.