New Hampshire schools are not prepared for the administration of the Smarter Balanced Assessments. Across the state, teachers and administrators are shaking their heads, looking at the complexity of preparing for wholly new and untested tech-based protocols. Some districts do not have the needed internet connections, others lack the computers needed. Proctors feel ill-prepared and uncomfortable with the notion of implementing these new tests. The NH's Department of Education is pressuring districts to plow through anyway, ignoring the fact that this experience will have a direct and negative effect on the students. We are setting kids up for hours of confusion and frustration, and ultimately, of feelings of failure. It is the unions' duty to speak up on behalf of the children. At the very least, we need to know what we are doing and know that it is functional before we bring it to the students.
