Standardized Testing--Does it Accurately Measure a Student's Success?

As a product of the educational system of the 1960's, I accepted standardized testing as part of the normal procedure at the end of every school year. Thinking back on my days as the student, it seemed that the teachers were rather non-chalant about the testing process. I do not remember practicing filling in bubbles, practicing questions in "testing formation" or attending assemblies to get pumped up about taking standardized tests.

During my first teaching stint, during the 70's-90's, standardized testing became a part of my annual classroom procedure. There was very little test preparation. The tests were expected to provide an assessment of what the children had learned throughout the year. Tests were carefully guarded, to the extent of shutting down the copy machine, counting and recounting test copies every day, and locking them up every afternoon.

As a homeschool parent for twelve years, one of my options for evaluation of my child's progress was to take the SAT test each year. The only special preparation we did for the testing was to purchase a workbook of basic skills and work through concepts that were weak. My daughter was tested by certified test administrators at the local homeschool association. I always felt that the scores reflected fairly accurately the progress that had been made that year. If some scores were lower than expected, we planned to focus on that area the next year.

Now that my child is in college and I am once again teaching in a classroom setting, I am seeing standardized testing from yet another perspective. The past 40+ years have brought a lot of changes to the standardized testing situation. Sometime between my first teaching "career" and now, THE TESTS have taken on the status of the most significant aspect of the entire school year. In addition to the national tests, students in Louisiana are required to pass state-mandated tests to advance to the next grade. A substantial amount of classroom time is devoted to preparing students for THE TEST.

There should be some means of measuring a student's progress each year, but does standardized testing give an accurate picture of what has been taught in the classroom for 180-190 days? When there is a limited number of math concepts that can be included on the test, there will be some that have not been covered during the school year-unless the teacher has "taught the test". As a teacher my mission is to focus on learning those skills that will benefit the students not just next year, but throughout life, such as: moral values, relationship skills and community service. When the teacher begins to feel the pressure of increasing THE TEST scores in order to make the students and the school look better, and in some cases receive federal and state recognition, she must sacrifice precious teaching minutes to helping students memorize a few certain concepts that somebody has declared to be valuable to their future.

Who decides which science facts a student should know by a certain grade level? It is virtually impossible to measure a true understanding of a scientific principle via a multiple choice question. Even the child who understands the concept may misinterpret the question or read carelessly, so it then becomes a matter of reading skills instead of a measure of understanding of science.

In my years of testing, I have encountered questions on standardized tests that I considered subjective. For example on a social studies question the student was asked to choose (by multiple choice) the best qualifications for a candidate running for political office. Isn't that why we have a republic democracy-so that people can choose a candidate according to the qualifications they deem most important? It would be much more illuminating to have the student explain the democratic process.

There are those students who struggle with testing situations, whether due to nervousness or reading limitations. Although some adjustments can be made for those with "special needs", THE TEST is not the best way to determine what these students have actually learned during the school year.

I understand that because of the sheer magnitude of testing vast numbers of students, THE TEST must be in an easy-to-grade format. But, by reducing the response options to multiple choice, THE TEST loses some of its validity from the outset. The best tests offer various ways for students to respond in order to show mastery of the material learned.

There is a place for standardized testing. There has to be some means of determining a student's readiness to promote to the next grade. But THE TEST should not be the only determining factor or the predictor of a child's success.

I wonder how Einstein would have scored on THE TEST!