And There Was MUCH Rejoicing

So, yesterday was our annual Faculty Meeting Of Doom -- the one that lasts ALL FREAKIN' DAY.
But, during the part where we watched a video message (an HOUR-LONG video message) from our superintendent, a miracle occurred: he announced we were cutting our amount of standardized testing in half.
No longer will our district be two and a half times ahead of every other district in the state with regard to how much testing we do.  Nope.  Now we will be normal.
Granted, this is still way more testing than we need, but we are pleased.
To put this in perspective, in the OLD days, we used to spend about three days every May giving kids one standardized test that covered all the core subjects.  That was it.
Then, during the last five years or so, they forced more and more tests on us, so that by last year, each kid had to take pre- and post-tests for each subject each quarter of the year, plus the year-end test, plus the extra English tests (SRI and the DWA).  This means that the average 8th grader with 8 classes was taking -- wait for it... -- up to 69 standardized tests per year (8 tests per subject for 8 periods plus the extras.)  That was clearly insane.
Now an 8th grader can expect to take some 37 standardized tests per year -- which is still clearly insane, but not to the same extent.
Throughout the district, there was much rejoicing...