Lauren Mitchusson (FGCU): Standardized Testing… HA

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 channel and manage curriculum content and teaching methods.

As a poor test taker, the word-standardized test repulses me.  I have always been a good student and done well at the high school and college level, obtaining mostly A’s in both environments.  In concurrence with this, I did not do well on my SAT’s and ACT’s which determined where I went to college.  Sadly, because of my mediocre test score I was not quite up to par with Ohio State University’s admissions requirements and denied admission for the quarter I had requested admission.  39 semester credits later with a majority of A’s and a few B’s I reapplied and was accepted and told I was just the type of student the University looks for, I was perfect Ohio State material.  It is for reasons like this I believe standardized tests are a poor representation of a student’s academic qualities.  I do not believe you can base a student’s four years worth of learning outcomes on a four-hour test, it’s just not practical.  In my case the SAT’s and ACT’s were not representative of my academic achievements nor of my abilities as a university student.  This coming Autumn quarter I will be at my dream school.

Those whom are most effected by standardized testing are students from low-income and minority-group backgrounds are more likely to be retained in grade, placed in a lower track, or put in special or remedial education programs when it is not necessary.  They are more likely to be given a watered-down or “dummied-down” curriculum, based heavily on rote drill and test practice.  This only ensures they will fall further and further behind their peers. On the other hand, children from white, middle and upper income backgrounds are more likely to be placed in “gifted and talented” or college preparatory programs where they are challenged to read, explore, investigate, think and progress rapidly.

I also firmly believe the quality of education is lowered due to the heavy use of standardized testing in schools today.  Teachers in today’s school systems are instructed to teach towards the standardized testing.  The focus on more important subjects has been lost in the midst.  Teaching to the test narrows the curriculum, forcing teachers and students to concentrate on memorization of isolated facts, instead of developing fundamental and higher order abilities. For example, multiple-choice writing tests are really copy-editing tests, which do not measure the ability to organize or communicate ideas.  Beginning early in the elementary education teachers are trained to start teaching their students how to bubble in grid sheets, such as those used in the FCAT tests.  This is absurd, students at this age should be learning how to read, basic math, history, and social studies; not how to bubble in a test sheet.  Instances like these take away from the learning environment in schools.  When taught how to write an essay for the Florida writes you are taught the five-paragraph format, this method was drilled into my head up until I got to my Composition I class in college.  Once in college you don’t write in the five paragraph essay format, you learn to write like a writer.  It was a huge adjustment to make after being taught to write the elementary, five-paragraph, Florida Write’s style.  Learning to write in this style just slowed  me down as a writer and put a damper on my writing skills.  My philosophy is to let teacher’s teach, our youth would be a lot better off that way. 

From years of standardized testing experience, I strongly believe it is a poor representation of a student’s academic abilities and strengths.  I hope that, one-day schools at the university level and lower will not focus so heavily on standardized test scores.  I am a perfect example.

This entry was posted on 1. April 2009 at 22:11 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.