Standardized Testing: What Are We Really Learning?
“Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” -unknown
Why is it that we continue to base students’ knowledge on their performance in standardized testing? Is it logical to force people to learn the same material in the same manner and expect the same results? According to testing scholar, Richard P. Phelps, 93% of studies have found that student testing, standardized tests included, found “positive affect” on student achievement (ProCon). However, since passing the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, which expanded state mandated standardized testing, the US math scores fell from 18th in the world to 31st place in 2009 (ProCon). This decrease in scores indicates that although the purpose of standardized testing was to better educate our children, it seems they are exacerbating the problem rather than providing a solution.
Although standardized tests have been used in America for more than 50 years there is no denying that there has been an increase in priority, not to mention the pressure that is put on students to pass the tests. Testing anxiety has become so prevalent that in 2002, The Sacramento Bee reported that, “test related jitters, especially among young students, are so common that the Stanford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it” (Ohanion). Is it acceptable to place that kind of pressure on children?
Meador reports that, “in Oklahoma, high school students must pass four standardized tests in various areas or they do not earn a diploma, even if their GPA was a 4.0.” This leaves teachers with no option other than to “teach to the test” rather than using their personal teaching abilities to figure out what and how students are capable of learning. Placing so much importance on preparing for these tests hinders the creativity and abilities of students and teachers alike. Schools are forced to accommodate time for testing, and less time is devoted to subjects that would expound upon a child’s level of creativity such as art, music, and physical education. “Former Texas State Senator Ted Lyon found that high school students in Texas spend between 29 and 45 days a year taking tests” (Evans). This does not even account for the amount of time spent preparing, studying, and taking practice exams. “When New York City’s scores dropped in 2010, many schools added two and a half hour test preparation sessions daily, and additional test practice over holiday vacations, according to local papers“ (Evans). So much pressure to do well on these tests has even led to cheating. This was the case during the 2012-2013 school year when it was discovered that the increase in test scores in Atlanta over the last ten years, had been the result of a cheating scandal (Evans).
I was extremely disappointed when I attended my daughter’s third grade information night and was informed that third grade was “all about STAAR testing.” That’s it? Preparing for a standardized test all year? I took standardized tests in school as well and the only thing I learned from them is that this is too much pressure to put on children starting at 8 years old, and in some cases even younger. There is no longer incentive to ensure that teachers are properly doing their jobs and that children are actually reaching their full potential. Instead, the incentive lies only in the outcome of a test that they spend all year preparing for. One incentive for placing so much emphasis on these tests is that results affect funding. According to Van Thompson of The Global Post, “A school that consistently fails to meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards may not be able to access some grants or other forms of funding. After five years of failure to meet AYP standards, a school may be closed altogether.” Some schools tie test performance to salary. For example, Houston's board of education offers up to $3,000 annually to teachers whose students meet performance benchmarks, and up to $25,000 to administrators whose schools meet state performance guidelines (Thompson).
I understand that schools need a benchmark in order to ensure that students and teachers are performing well, and standardized tests are an objective way of doing this since they are developed by experts and scored by computers leaving no room for bias. Teachers and administrators who adhere to said benchmark should certainly be rewarded for their accomplishments. Everyone needs an eventual endpoint for which to be held accountable. It is much easier to test students if the curriculum is uniform and able to be easily graded by a machine, thus saving time and money. I simply feel that this needs to be done in a manner that is more beneficial to the students, as well as the teachers.
My niece was born deaf in one ear. When she was four years old she was denied entrance to preschool. Her parents were told that her hearing loss didn’t qualify as a disability. However, when it came time for her to start the third grade my sister received a call from the school counselor. She was now ready to discuss getting my niece listed as having a disability. They wanted to be able to get her assistance if she had problems, specifically because she was at STAAR test age. Where was the concern when her disability might affect her rather than the outcome of her standardized test, which in turn might affect school funding?
Albert Einstein once said, “Most teachers waste their time by asking questions that are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning is to discover what the pupil does know, or is capable of knowing” (Moszkowski). I think that standardized tests may have their place, but to devote so much time focusing on them and attach so many important things to them seems unreasonable. Although a non-bias, uniform framework does seem like a logical standard to base our education system on, I hope that we can someday develop a system that encourages students to grow in their own knowledge and their own capabilities, rather than basing their future on the outcome of a standardized test.
Thompson, Van “Do Standardized Test Scores Factor Into How Much Money a School Will Receive?” Global Post. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Moszkowski, Alexander. Conversations With Einstein. Horizon Press. 1971. Print.
ProCon.org. “Is the Use of Standardized Tests Improving Education in America?”
ProCon.org. 18 March. 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2014
Ohanion, Susan. “Collateral Vomitage.” Susan Ohanion.org. 14 Mar. 2002. Web. 11 Nov. 2014
ProCon.org “Footnotes and Sources.” ProCon.org. 3 Sept. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014
Meador, Derrick. Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing. About Education. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
Evans, Jasmine. Problems With Standardized Testing. Education.com. 4 Nov. 2013.
Web. 16 Nov. 2014