Standardized Testing

Introduction

Aaron Churchill published “Bless the tests: Three reasons for standardized testing’’ an opinion article on March 18, 2015, and discussed his views about why standardized testing should be required. The image below shows how standardized testing emotionally and mentally hurts kids every year as the testing time comes around. Standardized testing happens every year in schools for many starting from age even 7 or 8. The tests are not actually helping the students but harming the students. Aaron Churchill fails to acknowledge the many negatives associated with standardized testing such as the impact on one’s confidence, pressure to ‘’teach the test’’, and scores not providing the full measure of a student’s capacity to learn.

Churchill fails to acknowledge the impacts standardized testing has on one’s confidence. He explains how testing is the only and best metric to determine students' abilities no matter what the situation may be. She needs to understand that a student's emotional and mental health matters. Churchill states in ‘’Bless the tests: Three reasons for standardized testing’’ that “Like it or not, standardized exam data remain the best way to hold schools accountable for their academic performance.’’ The problems with these tests are that they undermine student's confidence and add stress for no reason at all. Tim Johnson writes, “There’s pressure for every person involved: It distracts the kids because they know they have to do well on this test; there’s pressure on the parents; there’s pressure on the teachers from administrators who want their school to look good and who get pressure from on high.’’ The problem with standardized testing is that it makes the school not a place to learn but worry about a test to determine if you are enough to move up a grade level. This puts so much stress on a student, and they worry if they are smart enough. Students with disabilities do not get enough accommodations on test days, and that puts a huge amount of worry on parents and teachers. There are many students that did great year-round in the classroom, but they just have test anxiety. In all, sacrificing students' wellbeing is not the answer to determine their abilities with just testing.

Churchill again fails to acknowledge the fact that standardized testing pressures teachers to ‘’teach the test’’. This means that teachers are not able to focus on strengthening students’ weaknesses or even really teach them. This is because they are pressured to “teach the test’’ and the practices that are followed in lower-division differ significantly like in elementary or middle school writing. Johnson states in’’ Does standardized testing really evaluate your kid’s learning?” that “A primary school teacher at a York Region District School Board school that routinely performs well on EQAO tests, Maria Black* has marked the grade three test and administered a grade six one — and, she says, the results don’t mean a damn thing.’’ This is important to note because many teachers have seen over the past year that great students just do not do well on the test. Churchill states in “Bless the tests: Three reasons for standardized testing’’ that “They assess students based on a similar set of questions, are given under nearly identical testing conditions and are graded by a machine or blind reviewer.’’ This explained further that standardized testing prevents educators from really teaching and improving their individual student’s needs. The time teachers have to take out to “teach the test’’ initially prevents teachers from helping their students build the valuable skills needed. There are many real-life challenges students must face, and they need skills like creativity, resilience, motivation, curiosity, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking to be successful in life. These tests take the value away from other classes like physical education, art, music, or even other creative thinking classes. Standardized testing is harming a student’s growth in many other areas that are needed in order to be successful in life, and they pressure educators to just “teach the test”. The image below is showing how students are behind because the test is not allowing teachers to help students grow, and instead they are having to focus on teaching the test instead throughout the school year.

The image by Tim Johnson from his article “Does standardized testing really evaluate your kid’s learning?’’ reflecting on how educators are not able to help those students in need and “teaching the test” has become the main goal

Churchill fails to acknowledge the fact that standardized testing scores not providing the full measure of a student’s capacity to learn. Standardized testing is something that follows a system and rules. This means that it does not necessarily assess each student’s intellectual abilities. “The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing” by Bryan Nixon implies, “Far too many people wrongly assume that standardized testing data provides a neutral authoritative assessment of a child’s intellectual ability. He also adds that “Cultural factors, unfamiliarity with testing methods, test anxiety, and illness can wreak havoc with how well a student performs.’’ This explains that many factors influence a student’s result on test day, and their abilities are not fully addressed by the tests. Churchill argues that standardized testing allows students to be comparable, but experts say that these tests are not a great indicator of students’ abilities. A difficult day could result in a bad test grade for many students as well. This would then ruin the full process of allowing the administrators to know what the student really knows. Churchill explains that the test is a way to determine if a school is great or not. The problem with this claim is that many public schools lack the resources needed and represent minorities. Each student has diverse needs and stands in different situations. He explains that all schools should be great, and students should be reaching their full potential. Churchill still states that “Meanwhile, school-shopping parents have every right to inspect and compare the standardized test results from a range of schools, including charters, district schools, and STEM schools, before selecting a school for their child.’’ This provides a flaw in his reasoning because he is supporting that schools are not all treated as equal, and that is because of standardized test results. These practices are not allowing schools, educators, or student to reach their full potential because they are pressured by standardized testing.

Churchill’s opinion article “Bless the tests: Three reasons for standardized testing” fails to cover the negatives of standardized testing like impact on students’ confidence and wellbeing, pressure on educators to “teach the test,” and scores not reflecting the whole picture of student’s abilities. Churchill believes that standardized testing should be required and is the perfect method to understand if students are doing well in school. Standardized testing is the reason many students are stressed and do not feel comfortable in classrooms. They feel that they are valued in a way and a single test determines if they fall behind. The education system in terms of standardized testing needs to change and making sure students are the next leaders is what should be taught.

Works Cited

Churchill, Aaron. “Bless the Tests: Three Reasons for Standardized Testing.” The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 18 Mar. 2015, fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/bless-tests-three-reasons-standardized-testing.

Johnson, Tim. “Does Standardized Testing Really Evaluate Your Kid’s Learning?” Today’s Parent, 4 Apr. 2017, www.todaysparent.com/family/does-standardized-testing-really-evaluate-your-kids-learning/.

Nixon, Bryan. “The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing.” Whitby School, www.whitbyschool.org/passionforlearning/the-pros-and-cons-of-standardized-testing.