In an effort to improve education, especially in the United States, standardized testing has been instituted. But does it really work? This overview is not intended to answer the question of whether or not standardized testing works but to present both sides of the argument both for an against it.
The theory behind standardized testing is very simple. Every student is taught the same material in each subject so that a standardized test can be created and given to each of them. This will serve as a good barometer as to the student’s progress.
Those who support the theory say that with standardized tests there is nothing left to chance or discretion of the teacher. Every teacher is different and therefore every teacher has a different style of teaching, which includes how they create tests for their students. Some teachers create what would be considered difficult tests while other teachers create what would be considered very easy tests. In this case how well a student does on these tests would be directly related to the teacher they happened to get. With standardized testing and each teacher teaching the same material, this variable is eliminated. Thus, every student is taught the same, tested the same and therefore can be evaluated the same.
Those who are against standardized testing give the following argument. Teachers may not all be the same, but neither are students. To assume that each child has the ability to learn a subject at the same speed as another student is unfair. That is why many schools have several levels of classes which normally include advanced, regular and slow. This way students can be taught according to their abilities and not by some standard set for them. With standardized testing, the slower children have very little chance of succeeding. If they can’t keep up with the work there is no way, when test time comes, that they will be able to complete the test as there is a good chance that a large part of the material they never learned. By forcing the teachers to go through each unit of the course in a certain amount of time totally defeats the purpose of getting an education in the first place. Ultimately, the slower children don’t learn anything, are just pushed through and fail the tests anyway. This leads to greater drop out rates and more children facing a life of underemployment and unemployment.
Of course the entire argument on this subject is much more complex than the couple of paragraphs above. In the meantime, at least for now, standardized testing is winning the war. Most school systems have them. Some systems do well with them and some not so well. Usually it is the school system in the poorer district that does poorly with standardized test scores. Many times, whole classes fail their standardized tests, which are now required for a child to graduate from high school. Compounding this problem is no child left behind that pushes kids to the next grade before they are even ready. By the time they are seniors they have the education level of a 7th grader. When it comes time to take their final standardized test to graduate, they literally have no chance.
As was stated at the top, there is no current solution to the problem and no answer as to whether or not standardized testing should continue. The only thing that is certain is that it is a growing problem that will not go away.
By: Michael Russell
Posts Tagged ‘Standardized Test’
Major Issue in Education
February 27th, 2010
The major public-education issue today is money. How much money do we spend on education? Do we need to spend more? What do we need to spend it on? There have been studies that have proven that the number of dollars that we have spent on public education has not had a positive impact on student achievement. So what is the problem? The problem is that we continue to spend the money on programs that are directed toward the wrong philosophy. The latest initiative was President Bush’s “No student left behind.” In theory that sounds great. Obviously we do not want to leave any child behind. Politically speaking it is a great slogan and did a great deal to get President Bush elected. That within itself is one of the major issues. (problems) Education is a major issue in every political campaign. Politicians continue to come up with programs every four years that promise to solve pubic educations problems. While they may sound good they are designed more to get a politician elected than they are to actually helping public education.
The “NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND” initiative for example, sounded real good. Not only did it take care of all students but it put accountability on schools that were not successful. Citizens today want to put the blame for the lack of success in American schools directly on the schools. The accountability sounded great to the American people. The problem is, what to do when you find out that you still do not have success. You can not close down every school that was not successful according to the No school left behind guidelines. While the program called for greater expectations of students, it does not give students any alternatives in case they are not successful. It also puts other school systems in a compromising and overcrowded state if you close down schools that are not successful on the standardized test.
So what do I resolve? I believe that we need to have alternatives for the individual students. I do not believe that we can continue to use the cookie cutter approach to public education. We can not continue to attempt to teach all students in the same manner in hopes that we will get the same results. We have great examples in Europe, China, and Japan. We compare our brightest to their brightest and come up short in math and science. We need to concentrate on individual students who have exhibited ability in math and science, and continue with their efforts, while providing other meaningful careers and professions to others.
More importantly we need to start teaching our students how to think, and solve problems. The key lies in teaching students how to think, not just to memorize a set of facts. The students who gain a love for life long learning and knows how to solve problems will go much further.
When it comes to the issue of health care, politicians have a plan that is directed by doctors, hospitals, and hospital administration. These are the real professionals who can make a difference in health care. The issue of education needs to be left up to the real professionals, teachers and administration, not politicians. The number of dollars spent on public education would then be worthy of the education they would get.
By: Bob Roach
