One Mother’s Story: How Overemphasis on Standardized Tests Caused Her Nine-Year-Old to Try to Hang Himself

‘…I received a note from my son’s teacher telling me he’d failed the FCAT [Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test] by one point. The note said he’d have to take a reading class over the summer and retest…We weren’t alarmed as he only had to score one more point to be promoted…
“…a few weeks later his teacher called. [My son] had failed the test, again by ONE point!
“…I didn’t tell him, but the next day [he] told me he knew he’d failed because if he had passed we’d have been told by the school and be celebrating. I lied—told him it takes several days and we’d know soon, but he insisted he’d failed.’
Read more: One Mother’s Story: How Overemphasis on Standardized Tests Caused Her Nine-Year-Old to Try to Hang Himself