The Problems With Standardized Testing In Schools

According to a study conducted in 2001, the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-after-year test score improvement were temporary and were “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning” (Procon Headlines).Standardized testing has been a hot topic in the educational field since its began in the early 1900s. Many parents, teachers and students agree that standardized testing is not a reliable source for seeing students performance. So what can we do? As a student in high school I propose changing the tests to form to the ever-changing society and adult world that they are trying to prepare us for. It's clear that standardized testing will not go away overnight, why not seek to improve them?
In order to understand why standardized testing does not work for the common student, we must first learn why it began. Standardized testing started in the early 1900’s in order to test if students were learning and retaining materials. This is a flawed attempt for many reasons. Many students are not good test takers. According to study conducted by the ATAA (American Test Anxieties Association), 38% of students suffer from moderate to severely high test anxiety (ATAA Headlines). This causes students who have averaged well in their classes to absolutely tank (or fail) the standardized tests due to test anxiety. If over 30% of our student population in America is suffering from standardized testing, why are we continuing it? On top of this, even when students show signs of not understanding the information (by failing to scouring low), they are, still bumped to the next grade. Another issue with standardized testing is the amount of time children have to learn the information that may be on the end of the year test.
The word, may, is purposeful, because this fault goes hand and hand with another. Teachers are not prepared well enough in order to prepare their students. From my own experience, I have heard teachers saying year after year “I don't know what's going to be on the test at the end of the year, so we’ll do this from last years test”. How can someone prepare properly for something they do not know? Back to the issue of time, students are often required to learn a year and a halfs worth of concepts in a year. This mostly happens in subjects like science and math, crucial subjects for our generation. By the time the standardized test comes around, students have already forgot the full year's worth of concepts they learned last semester. These two issues also help in making standardized tests
inaccurate. “In math, Singapore's schools teach fewer subjects in greater depth before students are able to move on” (Khazan, Olga). Singapore has completely changed their approach to learning in the past few years. Prior to this change, students were required to take a test in sixth grade that determined whether they would be placed in a school for the gifted or placed in a vocational track. Singapore decided to focus more on creative learning and classes being able to be run autonomy. Perhaps if the US decided to do the same, the standardized tests would be passable and then even an accurate measurement of student achievement. Lastly, the available fields to work in after students are done with schooling are constantly changing and evolving. Our standardized tests haven't had a makeover in nearly 10 years, they all test to see if we remember what we'd been taught. Many students like myself, learn a concept to pass a test and then forget right after. This is because the tests don't look for creative thinking, common sense or anything of the sort. Maybe if they conformed more to our ever changing society, students would be able to obtain higher grades and in that prove they understand what's going on in the world around them. It's obvious that the standardized testing will not go away overnight or even in the span of a few years, which makes an unfortunate reality for the students who suffer from test anxiety.
I propose to have the standardized tests changed to test for what truly matters - common sense and critical thinking. Maybe a way to ‘test’ for critical thinking would be by giving each individual a situation and having them write out how they would handle it. Maybe for math and science the focus could be on teaching the children to understand the topics instead of learning-to-pass then forgetting the material. Maybe a simple change could make a huge
difference.