A bit of frustration (*rant*)

Had to give a district assessment today. I do understand and appreciate the need for frequent data collection in order to best work with our students, but our students are assessed a good 8-10 times in a school year, not including the informal and formative assessments that take place on a regular basis in my classroom. That's at least one major district or state level assessment per month, which doesn't sound that bad until you realize that this occurs in each and every core class they take, so in reality, the students are formally assessed by the district and/or state approximately 36-40 times in a year. No wonder our students burn out so quickly and get so frustrated with school. One student told me he hates them because they take time away from his time to learn things. A valid point, I think.

I am not opposed to assessment itself. I am opposed to over-assessment. There has got to be a better way than this.