It’s this time of the year when Florida Department of Education releases school grades for all the public schools in the state. This labeling is solely based on the performance of students in the state exams. School grades range from an F to an A, depending on how students perform in those standardized state tests. A good school grade is directly tied to several benefits, and one of those is increase in funding. So, in order to achieve that A, schools do everything possible to ensure that their numbers hit that mark. Everyone talks about the school grade and state tests throughout the year. We practically put that letter before the learning of our children. Instead of doing everything possible to prepare our kids for the real world, we go above and beyond to ensure that they perform well on those tests. In my experience as a classroom teacher, I have observed that even those students who do very well on Florida state exams lack basic skills needed to succeed in real life. This is another indication why this system of assessment is deeply flawed and has several repercussions.