Standardized testing has been hindering the education of children all across America since the 20’s, and has become more popular since then. A test that is “standardized” is one that is mass produced and mass administered therefore it only benefits the students who are strong test takers. Most of the curriculum of the core classes in high schools are centered around this one test and if this test isn’t passed then the entire class must be retaken, even if the student did well in the class. The SAT and ACT is used to determine how ready a student is for college. EOC’s are now graduation requirements. School districts believe that these tests are beneficial to the students and overall education system for many reasons such as teacher evaluation, objective and reliable indicators of student performance, and finding areas for improvement.
School districts are certainly correct with the ways that standardized testing could be beneficial. These tests are inclusive and can be a basis for determining certain abilities of teachers and students in certain subjects since the content is the same for everyone taking them. “Teaching to the test” can be beneficial since it focuses on certain guidelines to be met for teaching and learning. Standardized testing can also teach students time management skills and how to handle stress along with decision making since these tests are all about choosing the correct answers with only a certain amount of allotted time. All of this is true, but only if these tests are given in moderation. If these tests are improving a student’s education, they shouldn’t take up time that could be spent actually learning in a classroom. According to a report published in 2013 by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), “students in heavily tested grades can spend over 110 hours per year doing test prep, and as many as 50 hours per year taking the tests themselves, a total of roughly 15 percent of their instructional time.” In addition to this, standardized tests shouldn’t be determining factors on whether to pass or fail a child in a class or especially a grade level. These tests can be great indicators of a child’s progress or knowledge in a class, but since not every child is a strong test taker it isn’t fair that some of these tests can be the end all be all for passing a class or moving on to the next grade. A study published by the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-over-year test score improvements were temporary and “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning.” Teacher evaluation is one of the reasons that the school districts favor standardized testing. One of the points that school districts believe is that standardized testing is a good way to find the student’s weak areas in a subject and while this may be true for some students, it can be inaccurate at times since certain factors go along with when a student is taking a standardized test. Since standardized tests are given in the multiple choice format, they can guess and get certain questions right that they had no clue about. Also, student’s that are very knowledgable in the material can perform badly on the test due to the stress and anxiety brought on by the test therefore it would give a false impression on what the student actually knows. "I feel bad that I can't help my students during these tests," says Carmen Rodriguez, a third-grade teacher at P.S. 9 in New York City. "With my own tests, I can give them extra time to finish if they need it. But during a standardized test, I just say, 'Do the best you can.' Then they look up at me helplessly and fidget.” School districts aren’t wrong with the points they make about standardized testing and why it can be beneficial but they are wrong with how they go about it and how heavily they rely on these tests with determining things regarding a student with their knowledge or a teacher with how well they teach.
Standardized testing should not be a huge factor in the education system. Although it can pinpoint weak points and evaluate a teacher, a lot of the results that it brings can be inaccurate and not fit for most students. The fact that standardized testing is used to determine most of the things a student learns in school doesn’t make any sense since each child’s brain has a different learning style and way of thinking. According to a new Council of the Great City Schools study: “a typical student takes 112 mandated standardized tests between pre-kindergarten classes and 12th grade. By contrast, most countries that outperform the United States on international exams test students three times during their school careers.” If most countries are outperforming the U.S. on international exams and the U.S. has the most standardized testing, it’s clear that the mass administration of these tests can’t be a good thing. As someone who was forced to take standardized tests all my life, I know exactly how it feels to be put through hours and hours of testing and how much it took away from my education. I believe that there are a lot better and more beneficial ways to pinpoint a child’s weak areas in certain subjects and better ways to create standards for children that involve engaging with fellow students and preparing them for the real world.
If school districts would take a step back and take a look at the bigger picture, they would understand how so many factors tie into the education of a student and that one approach to teaching isn’t effective. Having one test determine so many things and having so many of these tests to the point where they’re taking away from a student’s education is counterintuitive to what the main goal is: to educate student’s in the best possible way and to make sure teachers are doing everything in their ability to contribute to that. Therefore, if other methods of learning such as group work, projects, and presentations are given more frequently than standardized testing, the education system and even the work field would improve drastically since school is what prepares people for jobs and careers later on in life. These methods along with small amounts of standardized testing would benefit student’s the most since more factors tie into their education, giving all kinds of students the ability to perform well since each student has their strong and weak points. This would also challenge students in different ways giving the opportunity for students who are weak test takers the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. When standardized tests are the main determining factor, even the strong test takers don’t benefit because they aren’t being challenged in other areas. If this concept is implemented into schools, we would have the best outcomes as far as success within students all across the country. The problem isn’t standardized testing itself, it’s the frequency in which they’re being given as well as how emphasized they’ve become and implementing different teaching styles along with a bit of standardized testing can provide the best and most diverse feedback.