When the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was signed into law nobody anticipated the results that would come in the following years. With increased pressure for students to score high on standardized tests, virtually all curriculums nationwide have been cut back and trimmed down in order to focus on the “skills” needed to score high on the test. The trimming and cutting away of the curriculum have resulted in “standardized students” (Williams, 603); students who can guess and “game” their way through a test, but are unable to actually use the knowledge their test results say they have. This focus on high test scores has resulted in a generation of students that cannot write, read or comprehend information beyond a superficial timed test atmosphere.
With these tests being the standard by which virtually all our children are being evaluated it brings to mind the question, are these tests fair? When one looks closer into the background and origin of the tests one thing becomes horribly clear, the tests themselves are biased. Many teachers and researchers have spent a goodly amount of time documenting and arguing this point. A few more noteworthy members of this group argue that “standardized testing works not from a set of objective standards somehow as constant as the North Star but from a set of cultural conceptions about literacy that are neither objective nor static” (Williams, 605). Simplified, they argue that these tests do not evaluate the skills of the student, but how close that student falls to a predetermined cultural norm. Sadly for most inner-city and minority rich schools, their students do not fall into this norm. The “skills” required to score high on these tests are rarely ones that are gained in today’s classroom environment and generally come from out of school experiences; experiences that come to virtually only those students who are well off with highly paid parents. This cultural bias results in students who may excel outside of the test environment being told that they are “below average” or less than they really are. The system of labeling “below average” students has resulted in waves of high school and even junior high drop-outs who believed they could not pass the exam to graduate.
Standardized test results have become the guidelines for a harsh and unforgiving reward and punishment system for the administration, teachers, and students. Schools as a whole are rewarded or punished on the “quality” of their teaching and learning, as documented by these tests. Each year, after the results of the tests are returned, schools review, revise and trim the curriculum once again. What most people don’t know is that the “test were never intended to measure the quality of learning or teaching” (Kohn, 599). The tests were created to rank students, to rate them. The creators of the tests openly admit that their tests “are designed so that only about half the test takers will respond correctly” (Kohn, 599). With the test designed so that only 50% can pass, why are they being used to judge the “quality” of the school? When test scores are considered too low schools are punished for not reaching the bench mark. When test scores are considered high enough schools are rewarded for going “above and beyond” to “bridge the gap”. While the students may never see the results of this reward and punishment system the teachers and administration have it hanging over their heads every minute of every day. The high amounts of stress this causes in not conductive to a good learning environment. When the teacher is stressed the children can sense this and it stresses them out as well. Stressed out children cannot learn, they don’t fully understand what stress is all they know is that they are anxious about everything. It is not healthy, high amounts of stress in young children lead to other issues that can have a lifelong effect.
It must be addressed that standardized testing does have its merits. It is a quick and easy way to make an evaluation about what a child currently knows. Standardized testing is faster than any other form of testing because it if corrected by a computer, no human has to be paid and take the time to hand correct these tests. It is true that when used correctly test scores can be used in a way that changes the teaching approach for the better. The Cheltenham School District of Pennsylvania is a good example of the correct way to use the information provided by the test scores. The results are organized in a way that is easy to understand and given to the teachers in July, a month before the students arrive. With this information “teachers can account for the effectiveness of their strategies and, if they are not working for some students, adapt to alternatives” (Paige, 614). Sadly this is not a common thread across the nation, in most areas schools and teachers are left on their own to interpret the data and make changes in their approach to teaching.
This heavy focus on testing has made teachers across the nation worried about what it is doing to the quality of the education that their students are getting. The “skills” required to pass these tests change curriculums in such a dramatic way that “teachers… worry that more and more of the important things that prepare us for life will be pushed off the curriculum plate to make room for test preparation” (Weaver, 616) . Teaching students how to fill in bubbles and how to shallowly interpret data does not prepare them for the deep thought and creative interpretation that is required to be successful in the highly competitive working world of today. “According to a recent poll by Public Agenda, 88% of teachers say the amount of attention their school pays to standardized test results has increased in the last several years. And 61% agreed that teaching to the test ‘inevitably stifles real teaching and learning’” (Weaver, 616). How can we support the practice of something that teachers, the people we trust with the future of our nation, feel “inevitably stifles real teaching and learning” (Weaver, 616)?
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about our nation’s focus on standardized testing is that the very nations we are trying to compete with are now changing their education systems from a testing heavy policy to a more flexible system. China has been one of the leading nation in test scores for longer than most of us have been alive, recently they have begun to change from a “one nation-one syllabus tradition” (Zhao, 621) to a flexible system with more choices for the students. With everyone from Bill Gates to long time politicians claiming that out educations system is broken nearly beyond repair and that “a high-school diploma as become nothing more than a ‘certificate of attendance’” (Paige, 613, it seems that the US will shortly be unable to compete with the rest of the world. However, “the United States remains a superpower, dominating the world as the most scientifically and technologically advanced nation” (Zhao, 619). How can it be that we are losing the battle with test scores and winning the battle with advancements? The answer is shockingly simple, growing up in the US fosters creativity and creativity spurs the drive to take the risks and overcome the challenges that an essential part of changing the world. “China, Singapore, South Korea and Japan…have started education reforms aimed at fostering more creativity and innovative thinking among their citizens” (Zhao, 621). While these leading nations are changing their education systems to create a more creative environment the US is calling “for more homework and more study time” (Zhao, 621). In our quest to be the best of the best in all categories are we sacrificing the very thing that sets us apart, our creativity, to compete with nations that are changing to be more like we are now?
Creativity is what sets our nation apart from the rest of the world, our new focus on standardized test results pushes us towards becoming average rather than a leader when it comes to advancements. In order to continue competing in the global economy the US needs to remain the leader in scientific and technologic advancements. Our current reliance on getting high test scores has resulted in students and graduates that are unable to compete in the real world, the shallow thinking and simple interpretation skills needed to score high on standardized tests kills the creative and innovative spirit that has allowed the US to remain a superpower. The bias and shallowness of the tests make it nearly impossible for all students to score well and do not properly prepare students for entering the increasingly competitive working world. While standardized tests make comparing one student to another faster and simpler, our heavy reliance on their results will end up being our nations downfall.
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