Standardized Testing in Schools

High School students had to take standardized tests back in the 1980s. There wasn't much in terms of teachers setting class time aside to prepare for these tests. The school offered workshops for students that needed to sharpen their test taking skills.

But students were pretty much left to their own devices.

The teachers announced that a standardized test was coming up for certain grades; then it was sink or swim. The student had to figure out a way to do well on these tests, which wasn't hard to do. These tests measured a student's retention of specific course materials.

If you wanted to do well in these exams, you had to apply yourself to the normal curriculum. There was a relationship between what the test measured, and what the students learned in school. There were Math, English/Literature, Science, and Government/Civics/History requirements that you had to take.

Students that applied themselves to their courses did well on these exams. For example, if the test measured 9th grade mathematics; and you were taking Algebra, you had this section down. Those that "horsed around" with their classes didn't do too well.

This is how it should work today.

If a teacher has to break a sample standardized test out, and teach it to the class, then that's a school system failure. It also represents a failure on the student's part. Nothing is stopping a student from reading beyond what he covers in class.

I served as an instructor for 3 years while in the military. I saw the "study ethics" many young Americans displayed. The students rushed out the door at the end of the training day, leaving their training guides in the student cabinets on the way out.

After reading one student end-of-course critique after another, blaming an instructor for their academic failures, I changed the test. If you studied the student guide during the course, you did well in the exams. If you neglected your student guide throughout the course, you didn't do as well as you could've.

For many students, this was an alien concept.

These habits didn't just materialize while these students were in the military; these were carry-over habits from their high school days. These were students that graduated high school during the 1990s. From talking to students that graduated after 2001, it looks like things "deteriorated" since then.

This is where the standardized tests, that come with "No Child Left Behind," comes into play.

Many teachers and students complain that this "doesn't work." It just takes class teaching time away and goes against learning. As a Master Degree holder, I say, "Hogwash." There are basic academic requirements that students must take each grade level. The standardized tests attempt to measure the student's ability to retain the knowledge from these courses.

A good way to "study" for these standardized tests is to have a long term, methodical study plan that has substance. Cramming before a regular test doesn't help study for the standardized tests.

My friends and I did well in standardized testing in high school. My college "cohorts" and I did well on standardized tests given in comprehensive classes that cap a college degree program. We didn't need extra class time devoted to passing the standardized tests to pass.

If these standardized tests are "failing" in their mission, it's because teacher union based "fears" want it to fail. Students should "hit" the books and apply themselves, and schools should focus on teaching their students.