Just a little note....
Where I live in Canada students are given standard exams in grade 3, 6, and 9. These exams are used to measure students progress, and hopefully spot weaknesses in the system early.
Then there are provincial final exams in the following high school core subjects. Social Studies, Applied Math, Pure Math, English, Français, French Language Arts, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Science.
This exam is worth 50% of their final grade in that course.
I think (but have not done the research) that most provinces in Canada have something similar in place.
I am in favor of standardized testing, but of course it must (and is here) be preceded by a fairly standardized curriculum for the jurisdiction.
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