<p>Standardized testing has been a hot topic all over the world with its many controversies within the society and the government. Standardized testing is known to be used worldwide to determine many decisions for school, students, staff, and so on. For instance, majority of the school districts use standardized testing scores to determine a schools future. In addition, test scores have been overemphasized throughout the general education system. According to Bronwyn T. Williams, an associate professor of English and director of composition of the University of Louisville, he states:
Incessant testing regimes, such as the infamous No Child Left Behind(2002) law in
the United States (known ruefully among many teachers as NO Teacher Left
Standing), focus on broad comparisons of students, with little regard to
their differences, and severe punishments for schools and teachers who fail
to meet the standards. (Williams 604)
He provides an idea of the overemphasis of standardized testing scores and its importance to the future of each and almost every school. With the many faults that standardized testing has created, our education system has been the most damaged. Today, standardized testing has negatively influenced our educational system by determining the future of schools and students, lowering the quality of teaching, and providing false information about ones actual knowledge. Therefore, standardized testing should not be used in schools because it has tremendously damaged our educational system.
Standardized testing has become one of the most influential factors in determining the future of schools and students; as a result, many outstanding schools are labeled as failure due to the AYP, also known as adequate yearly progress. In addition, many students are also faced with many struggles relating to their future. According to the video, A Teacher's Guide to Fixing No Child Left Behind, the video illustrates that the law:
NCLB [No Child Left Behind] also brought with it a host of unintended
consequences. It is a law with all sticks and no carrots. Under NCLB, teachers
have been unfairly blamed for failing schools. And it provided schools to focus
efforts on teaching to poorly-designed bubble tests. Under this broken
accountability system, some perfectly good schools can be misidentified as
failing because they dont meet their education goals, identified as Adequate
Yearly Progress, or AYP. (A Teachers Guide)<br>
This video specifies the many flaws our educational system has gained when this law has been passed. The government stresses out that this law will allow them to measure improvement. Consequently, this law also ranks decent schools as failing just because of the test results. This is unfair because not many students are gifted to be great test takers; in fact, it is a skill to do well on tests. The government also accentuates that having high testing scores marks improvement within our educational system. However, standardized test scores do not reflect ones actual knowledge, but are an inaccurate measurement. The government considers test scores as the only way to fairly discover if students are improving; hence, school districts and staff are pressured into teaching to the tests, and ignoring the real materials students are supposed to learn. From my past experience when I was still in high school, Ive witnessed way too many banners and heard countless reminders from the principal and teachers to do well on the STAR/CST tests also known as the California Standardized Tests. Every year, the school would gather each class to remind us to do extremely well on our CST tests and to attain higher scores than our rival high schools. This overemphasis of test scores demonstrates how important the test scores are. However, these kinds of tests are better than SATs, also known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and ACT, which stands for American College Testing. While all three tests can be unfair when measuring improvement and knowledge of students, STAR testing is more ideal because students are tested based on what has been taught during the whole school year. On the other hand, SATs and ACTs consist of cumulated topics during the course of high school. These tests are put in a tricky way that many students struggle to do well on these tests. Because of this, many students arent accepted into the colleges of their choice partly because of their test results. In an article called Standardized Testing and Its Victims by Alfie Kohn, an author who writes on educational and parenting issues, reports that standardized-testing scores often measure superficial thinking (Kohn 599). He provides evidence that these tests dont truly measure a students critical thinking; also, they are open to make any educational guesses since these tests are multiple choice. As a result, some students do terrible on tests, which makes it more difficult to be accepted from colleges. Overall, standardized tests like SATs and ACTs are considered a road block to the bright future of schools and students.
The overemphasis of standardized testing has lowered the quality of teaching today, which has immensely damaged our educational system. The obsession of standardized testing has limited many teachers ability to teach materials that are actually crucial and will benefit students lives, and instead, teachers are focused on teaching to the tests. Since standardized testing scores determine the future of schools and the school staffs jobs, they concentrate more on improving students test scores than to pay more attention to what students are actually gaining from the overemphasis of standardized testing. In some cases, some of the best teachers quit their professions as teaching to the tests affects their ability to teach because they are pressured into teaching students to do extremely well on standardized tests. Kohn points out that many educators are leaving the field [of education] because of what is being done to schools in the name of accountability and tougher standards (Kohn 600). The high expectations of having high test scores has altered the idea of what should be taught to what is being taught today. Teachers are pressured into teaching the materials necessary to ace standardized tests, which prevents students to become prepared for college and their future careers. In an online article called How Standardized Testing Damages Education, the unknown author claims that, Tests that measure as little and as poorly as multiple-choice tests cannot provide genuine accountability. Pressure to teach to the test distorts and narrows education. Instead of being accountable to parents, community, teachers and students, schools become accountable to a completely unregulated testing industry (How Standardized Testing). The author agrees that teaching to the tests decreases the quality of knowledge gained from teachers. This passage proves that standardized testing has negatively influenced our education system; in addition, it has also given many students disadvantages to be able to prepare for the future.
Standardized testing is not an accurate measure of ones actual knowledge; in fact, these tests are unfair to students because they are biased. Therefore, these tests are damaging the educational system. SATs and ACTs are a great example of an inaccurate measure of intelligence; they are based upon bubble marks which do not reflect a students critical thinking. However, it is often required that all students must take them in order to apply and be accepted to colleges. Furthermore, these tests are one of the four major factors in determining a students eligibility to be accepted into an institution. This is unfair to many students, especially to those who are not good test takers, because it forbids them to get into the college of their choice. In addition, it does not display their actual knowledge. Actual knowledge is displayed through critical thinking and applying their overall knowledge to solve problems. In an online article called How Standardized Testing Damages Education, the author also asserts that:
Despite their biases, inaccuracies, limited ability to measure achievement or
ability, and other flaws, schools use standardized tests to determine if children
are ready for school, track them into instructional groups; diagnose for
learning disability, retardation and other handicaps; and decide whether to
promote, retain in grade, or graduate many students. Schools also use tests to
guide and control curriculum content and teaching methods.
The quote states everything standardized tests measures but does not mention if a student is actually learning. Standardized tests are only used to determine a students learning ability and whatnot, but do not measure a students actual knowledge. As a result, many students are negatively impacted when they receive average scores on these tests. These tests are also biased; only fortunate families can be able to afford test preparations while low-income families are at a disadvantage due to financial status. Kohn implies, The tests may be biased. For decades, critics have complained that many standardized tests are unfair because the questions require a set of knowledge and skills more likely to be possessed by children from a privileged background (Kohn 600). Not only does he claim that these tests are biased, but also emphasizes that these kinds of tests expect test taking skills and do not require critical thinking skills. Thus, the overemphasis of standardized tests negatively affects our educational system.
Although the influence of standardized tests has immensely done wrong to our educational system, it can still be mended. The government and school districts must agree upon better solutions to fix our educational system. Standardized tests should not have a significant importance to our education system because they do not benefit schools, students, staff, and so on. One solution to improve our educational system is to disregard standardized tests, so that teachers have the freedom to teach their students in their own content and pace. However, teachers are still responsible to meet the standards within each school year. Another solution is to replace 100 percent multiple choice tests with tests such as that of the AP program, also known as Advanced Placement. AP tests require critical thinking as these tests focus on one subject and consist of a multiple choice section and a free response section, which allows students to solve problems using the techniques they have learned throughout the course. This way, many teachers will be able to determine what a student has actually learned throughout the year and how they applied that in order to solve problems. As a student who took AP courses, I favor these tests than the SATs and ACTs. Although a majority of the students find the tests to be difficult, AP tests actually reveal a students critical thinking. Therefore, it is ideal to have tests formatted like AP tests. Also, another solution can be to have institutions to create their own tests, instead of using national standardized tests, and provide details of what will be tested. Even though it may complicate matters, it will benefit students who arent strong test takers because it will narrow down the subjects needed to be studying. Students will be at an advantage because they will know what to focus on. There are plenty of solutions to improve our educational system, but in the end, it is up to the community the student belongs to.</p>
<p>Work Cited
Kohn, Alfie. Standardized Testing and Its Victims. Elements of Argument.
Rottenberg, Annette T. and Winchell, Donna Haisty, eds. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010: 599-600. Print.
Fairtest: How Standardized Testing Damages Education. National Center for Fair & Open<br>
Testing., 20 Aug. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.
<a href="http://fairtest.org/facts/howharm.htm">http://fairtest.org/facts/howharm.htm</a>
Usedgov. A Teachers Guide to Fixing No Child Left Behind. 24 May 2011. Web. 28 Sept.
2011.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV7od-RU1Jw&feature=channel_video_title">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV7od-RU1Jw&feature=channel_video_title</a>
Williams, Bronwyn T. Standardized Students: The Problems with Writing for Tests Instead of<br>
People. Elements of Argument. Rottenberg, Annette T. and Winchell, Donna Haisty, eds. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010: 604. Print.</p>