Mother's viral Facebook post sheds light on reality of standardized tests

It's the end of the school year for many students, which means standardized testing. There has long been a debate about if the U.S. should continue to test children this way, and one mother spoke out with her view.

Blogger and mother Adrian Wood of Tales of an Educated Debutantetook to Facebook to share how testing is affecting her family:

Wood's 9-year-old son called her crying, saying his jaw was hurting but he couldn't go home. He had to take EOGs -- "end of grade" tests in North Carolina -- and said if he didn't take them, he couldn't go to the fourth grade.

Wood talked to many individuals about EOGs, from the superintendent to Gov. Roy Cooper; none of the people she's spoken to praised the tests. "Tell me how EOGs and the pressure they bring benefit my family," Wood wrote. "What message are we sending to our children? How will they remember the days of elementary school? Will they remember the awesome teachers that nurtured them or will they only remember those tests?"

She then called for an end to EOGs, saying North Carolina can "do so much better."

Her post went viral, getting thousands of shares and reactions. Some commenters agreed with her: "As an educator, I will never understand how 180 days have no bearing and one test has everything," one wrote.

Others, however, don't see a problem with EOGs. Another commenter wrote, "EOGs are only a training to what real life looks like ... like my daughter says it's just a test with more pages."

Wood, however, stands by her view. She told the Huffington Post, "Families feel stuck and the disconnection between state policy and best practice is a divide that defies the imagination."

"Perhaps," she continued, "if we speak up, the people driving may start listening? I sure hope so."