Giving credit: A measure brought by Tennessee Republicans addresses testing snarls

Student testing is an arbitrary one-day measurement of academic progress, writes Gabe Hart. (Photo: Getty Images)

Across the state, from Memphis to Johnson City, educators are emerging from their summer sabbatical, slogging their way through teacher in-service and counting the hours until they can do what they really want to do: teach students.

Over the last quarter-century, however, the bureaucracy surrounding public education has substantially increased. From testing mandates to false flags surrounding equitable teaching and learning, classroom teachers have shouldered the burden of navigating the landmines of performative legislation (CRT, Success Sequence, Gun Safety), all while doing their best to ensure students are emotionally, mentally and physically safe to learn subject-specifi