The Problem With Standardized Testing

Andrew Braddy, Reporter

Standardized testing is one of the most controversial topics in education.  Standardized testing has been around in schools since the 1930’s; in those, days it was used to gauge students who had special needs. Currently, these tests allow for comparisons to be made among schools in regards to student achievement and ensures accountability for teachers but it’s actually a faulty way to test someones IQ and is just a problem in many aspects.  These tests that we have to take as students get in the way of our learning because in order to take these tests, we have to miss class and end up having a lot of  homework to make up due to missing class for one or sometimes multiple days. “It’s not fair for us to have a bunch of make up work due to taking a test we have to take, and it adds to my stress level,” said sophomore Morgan Schaap.

Standardized testing can also put a lot of pressure on students and teachers. On top of all the make up work that students have to make up, standardized tests stress students out because some are necessary for graduation. Students need to pass certain tests in order to get their diploma and it can add a great deal of stress on a student. ISTEP is a prime example of a test students need to take to in order to graduate and if the student fails it,  they will need to take a class called Math Lab that can take away a spot in your schedule for another class we want or need to take. Students then retake the test until they pass or if they never pass, they don’t graduate unless they qualify for a waiver. Tests students stress out about is the SAT and ACT because those tests depend on if a student can get into a certain college and being asked questions that some students haven’t learned about yet or learned a long time ago isn’t a good indicator on if a student will succeed in college. “Having to take standardized tests to see if we can get into college shouldn’t be allowed because I feel like I’ll succeed in college anywhere I want to go, and having a test tell me I won’t isn’t fair,” said senior Richard Damron.

Stress is also put on teachers due to standardized testing. Teachers have to change lesson plans around tests and have block scheduling that results in students having half their classes one day and half their classes the next, so teachers don’t see all their students on a daily basis.This can result in teachers being on different lesson plans with different classes and they end up falling behind schedule. The block schedules can also confuse students and puts a lot of weight on them as well because the schedule changes from day to day. Also, testing for a month straight sometimes and running on a different schedule everyday could affect grades because students are too focused on all their tests they have to take and spend less time focusing on their schoolwork. Students can be burnt out by testing all the time. Teachers can feel the pressure to improve test scores of their students. According to a national survey, 72% of teachers felt “moderate” to “extreme” pressure to improve their students test scores. A teacher shouldn’t be under a great deal of pressure to improve test scores because it could affect the way they teach in the classroom by spending a lot of time on test prep and not enough on the curriculum students need to learn.

Taking standardized tests can also be difficult to pass and frustrating. Some students have come within one point of passing a test and had to retake it again. “I ended up failing my ISTEP test by one point and had to retake it; it was frustrating, and I thought it was unfair,” said senior Cole Cervantes.

Some people may say that standardized tests are a great gauge of knowing a students IQ level, but the way that standardized tests are set up make this theory inaccurate. Everyone is asked the same questions, and have to finish in the same amount of time. The way it’s set up is unfair because some students read slower than others, and it takes them longer to finish a test. Also, some students have higher IQ’s than others and grading them all on the same test isn’t fair. We are all different in our abilities and the way we think. Some students panic when taking tests by erasing answers and circling another one when their first answer was right. Some questions asked on the test could also be material that wasn’t covered for some students and that isn’t fair as well. For these reasons, the test results are inaccurate compared to the students actual IQ and shouldn’t be used in schools.