--- title: Sen Alexander: Obama Should 'Stop and Think' on Over-Testing description: Teachers know better than Washington how to assess their students’ progress canonical: https://time.com/4086930/lamar-alexander-testing/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-26T15:58:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:21.073Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Sen. Lamar Alexander: Obama Must 'Stop and Think' on Testing og:description: Teachers know better than Washington how to assess their students’ progress og:url: https://time.com/4086930/lamar-alexander-testing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f24a27e57d7b921/698869ccbc6cfca3a63da127/lamar-alexander.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4605 og:image:height: 2590 og:image:alt: Lamar Alexander og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sen. Lamar Alexander: Obama Must 'Stop and Think' on Testing twitter:description: Teachers know better than Washington how to assess their students’ progress twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f24a27e57d7b921/698869ccbc6cfca3a63da127/lamar-alexander.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sen. Lamar Alexander: Obama Should 'Stop and Think' On Over-Testing Problem > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=c9b17fd8-9cb1-4965-8c3b-384e5bd96ba0&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Subscribers | 430,000 | TIME, August 2026 | | Open rate | 50.7% | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Inside TIME is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=c9b17fd8-9cb1-4965-8c3b-384e5bd96ba0&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/subscribe?i=c9b17fd8-9cb1-4965-8c3b-384e5bd96ba0&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is Inside TIME? Inside TIME is a twice-weekly newsletter written by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. It reaches 430,000 subscribers with a 50.7% open rate as of August 2026. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: President Obama On Standardized Testing [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama On Standardized Testing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SjAr12A0.m3u8) (3:04)  _Published 2015-10-24. President Obama On Standardized Testing_ by [Sen. Lamar Alexander](https://time.com/author/sen-lamar-alexander/) ## Sen. Lamar Alexander Oct 26, 2015 3:58 PM UTC  Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. listens to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 21, 2015. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. listens to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 21, 2015.Susan Walsh—AP by [Sen. Lamar Alexander](https://time.com/author/sen-lamar-alexander/) ## Sen. Lamar Alexander Oct 26, 2015 3:58 PM UTC Over the weekend President Barack Obama announced that all [100,000 public schools across the nation](http://time.com/4086062/obama-standardized-testing-cap-schools-education/) should limit testing to 2% of a student’s time in the classroom. It’s a recommendation, not a requirement, and it comes in response to a nationwide backlash from teachers, students, and parents who are sick of over-testing. The president is right about students taking too many tests. But I hope he will stop and think before trying to cure over-testing by telling teachers exactly how much time to spend on testing or what the tests should be. Classroom teachers know better than Washington how to assess their students’ progress. They also know that the real reason we have too many tests is that there are too many federal mandates that put high stakes on student test results, and that one more Washington decree—even if it is only a recommendation for now—is not the way to solve the problem of too many federal mandates. Instead, the best way to fix over-testing is to get rid of the federal mandates that are causing the problem. That’s precisely what the United States Senate did when it passed by an overwhelming [bipartisan majority](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/us/politics/senate-education-revamp-no-child-left-behind.html?%5Fr=0), 81-17, legislation to fix No Child Left Behind and give more flexibility to states and classroom teachers to decide which tests will decide what kind of progress students are making. No Child Left Behind, a federal law enacted in 2001, requires students to take 17 standardized tests over the course of their K-12 education. It uses those tests to decide whether schools and teachers are succeeding or failing. In the Senate’s work to fix No Child Left Behind, no issue stirred as much controversy as these high-stakes tests. At first, I was among those who thought the way to fix over-testing might be to get rid of the 17 tests. But the more we studied the problem, the more the issue seemed not to be the 17 federal tests but the federally designed system of rewarding or punishing schools and teachers that was attached to the tests. A third grader, for example, is required to take only one test in math and one in reading. But here is the problem: the results of these tests count so much in the federally mandated “accountability system” that states and school districts are giving students dozens of additional tests to prepare for the federal tests. A new survey says students in big-city schools will take, on average, [112 mandatory standardized tests](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/study-says-standardized-testing-is-overwhelming-nations-public-schools/2015/10/24/8a22092c-79ae-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc%5Fstory.html) between prekindergarten and high school graduation—that’s eight tests a year. One Florida study showed that a Fort Myers, Fla., school district gave [more than 160](http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/09/02/florida-school-district-retracts-historic-testing-opt-out-decision) to its students. Only 17 of those are federally required. So the Senate decided to keep the federally required 17 tests—that’s two annual tests in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, as well as science tests given three times between grades 3 and 12. We also kept the practice of reporting results publicly so parents and teachers know how their children are performing. These results are “disaggregated,” so we know how students are doing based on their gender, ethnicity, or disability. To discourage over-testing, we restored to states and classroom teachers the responsibility for deciding how to use these federal test scores to measure achievement. Our bill ends the high-stakes, Washington-designed, test-based accountability system that has caused the explosion of tests in our local schools. It reverses the trend toward a national school board. I am glad to see the president’s focus on over-testing. But let’s not make the same mistake twice by decreeing from Washington exactly how much time to spend on tests or what the tests should be. States and 3 million teachers in 100,000 public schools are in the best position to know what to do about over-testing. Both the Senate and House of Representatives have passed similar bills to fix No Child Left Behind and to reduce the federal mandates that are the real cause of over-testing. The best way to have fewer and better tests in America’s classrooms is for Congress to finish its work and the president to sign our legislation before the end of the year. _Alexander is chairman of the Senate education committee, a former governor of Tennessee and a former U.S. education secretary._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4086930/lamar-alexander-testing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4086930/lamar-alexander-testing/"},"headline":"Sen. Lamar Alexander: Obama Should 'Stop and Think' On Over-Testing Problem","datePublished":"2015-10-26T15:58:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:21.073Z","description":"Teachers know better than Washington how to assess their students’ progress","url":"https://time.com/4086930/lamar-alexander-testing/","keywords":["Education","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f24a27e57d7b921/698869ccbc6cfca3a63da127/lamar-alexander.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sen. Lamar Alexander","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sen-lamar-alexander/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f24a27e57d7b921/698869ccbc6cfca3a63da127/lamar-alexander.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lamar Alexander","caption":"Lamar Alexander","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4086930/lamar-alexander-testing/","name":"Sen. Lamar Alexander: Obama Should 'Stop and Think' On Over-Testing Problem"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama On Standardized Testing","description":"President Obama On Standardized Testing","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SjAr12A0/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-24T18:13:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SjAr12A0.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4086930/lamar-alexander-testing/","duration":"PT3M4S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4086930/lamar-alexander-testing/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```