March brings spring across the United States, and in the sporting world, the chirp of a whistle and the toss of an orange-and-black basketball signals the beginning of the NCAA tournaments.
At the same time, our nation’s classrooms — usually filled with the sound of students and teachers engaged in lively discussions — have fallen silent. Our students are engaged in their own high-stakes game, but as time ticks away at the clock, they’re not aiming to score in the hoop. Instead, they are pencilling in by hand, or clicking away on their computers, to answer multiple-choice questions on standardized exams.
