The Problem with Standardized Tests

SAT, ACT, MCAS, and AP tests. Just the mention of the names of these standardized tests is enough to make students shiver and become anxious. Standardized testing has become a vital part of education, but there are many issues with it.

Preparation for standardized testing begins as early as Kindergarten in many states, and MCAS testing in Massachusetts begins in 3rd grade (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/06/06/the-kindergarten-testing-mess/?utm_term=.0ad3434b3839). Kids as young as 5 years old are being taught that tests assess their learning capabilities. This drills in the fact that if they do bad on a test it will be reflected by bad grades (taken as a sort of punishment), which is what school is largely based on nowadays. Standardized testing also compares children by giving results as comparison to an average or to other scores. Such comparisons are incredibly unjust as all children are different and learn in different ways and at different speeds. Different states also have different standardized tests, so certain tests may be easier than others, providing an unfair ground for comparison. Many schools and states also have different levels of funding for education, and in some cases the lack of funding may lead to poor test scores due to a lower level of education. The low test scores, in this case, do not fully represent the students’ learning ability, but rather the amount of funding the state education receives.

Some people also get stressed during the test taking and can experience anxiety. Triggers can be as small as typing during the computer writing part of an exam, and students’ inability to focus due to this can impair their test performance. Some kids might play with fidget spinners, tap their feet on the ground, shake the table, mumble to themselves, etc. These actions may be a way for them to take out their stress, but the performance and concentration of others is severely impacted through listening to these distracting noises. Also, one of the reasons many students may be unable to focus can be due to the wiring of our brains. The reptilian part of the brain dedicated to threat responsiveness considers punishment and examinations as threats, and its response to that is shutting down all memory functions of the brain, so it can be nearly impossible for students to respond and recall everything learned beforehand (https://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud). Therefore, standardized test taking is not an accurate reflection of learning capabilities and knowledge.

Many classes are now focused solely on preparing for tests, which is detrimental to the learning process. No content is geared towards becoming a more active, critical thinker or becoming a person with better life skills; it is all or nothing in regards to passing the test. People begin to think that testing is the only way to test their knowledge, but that is not the case in the world outside of school. So, when they leave school and enter the world where testing as it is in school does not exist, they feel lost and may even feel confused as it is not what they are used to, and they are not prepared for anything other than testing.

The original purpose of standardized testing, the No Child Left Behind act, is great, but standardized testing has not improved performance of students. A nine-year study run by the National Academy of Sciences resulted in the conclusion that “available evidence does not give strong support for the use of test-based incentives to improve education” (http://neatoday.org/2011/07/18/national-research-council-gives-high-stakes-testing-an-f/). Also, some states are lowering the difficulty bar of tests in order to get better statewide results, therefore not representing the abilities of the students to the full extent. In addition, many standardized testing graders for open response aren’t paid enough, and don’t have good enough qualifications to grade the tests expertly, so they grade on a basis of whether the answer matches the “answer key”, and don’t value independent thinking. An answer may still be correct because the student could have just interpreted the text in a different way, but the question will likely be marked wrong.

College applications are nearly impossible without SAT or ACT now. Some colleges are making the shift towards “optional” standardized testing scores for application. However, for some students, this still means mandatory. This is because these colleges still mention that to increase chances of getting in, students should either have the scores or make sure some other parts of the application are outstanding. Drastic shifts in the standardized testing system need to be made in order to reduce the amount of stress and problems that come along with testing. The original idea behind standardized testing is good, but the testing system today has many flaws and issues with it.

There are plenty of examples of places with little or no focus on standardized tests that are performing wonderfully well. Finland, for example, does not have any mandated standardized tests, but 93 percent of their students graduate from high school, which is 17.5 percent above the amount that graduate in the United States (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/). This shows that standardized tests are not the key to improving education, and the standardized testing system can be changed without causing a decrease in education. Standardized tests contribute to levels of stress, kill creativity, and don’t allow students to think outside of the box and develop their own ideas. In the future, many of the mechanical jobs we have now may be taken over by AI or robots, and the most important jobs fulfilled by humans will include creativity, which is not focused as much upon currently. Standardized testing pressure forces students to focus more on rigid, linear thinking, not allowing them to spend time on creativity and thinking outside of the box. The standardized testing system needs to be improved to help students be successful after leaving school and to lower the amounts of stress associated with this type of testing.

by MARINA NAUMOVA