The second semester of every school year brings dread and stress among students as testing arrives. STAAR, TSI, SAT and ACT tests consume the spring months and become the subject of lessons in classrooms. These tests aim to measure student’s knowledge and readiness on a subject, providing standardized questions and grading on a general scale. Standardized tests do not accurately measure intelligence and should not pose as an indicator of student comprehension and progress.
All standardized tests consist of generalized questions over basic content. Teachers build lesson plans based on their teaching styles and formatting, which can not be represented through a standardized test. If a teacher fails to educate students on a topic that remains highly tested, the student is set up for failure, as they only know what they are taught. Additionally, teachers typically remain unaware of the content that will be tested over, making it difficult to provide guidance for students when needed in preparation for standardized tests. Narrowing content in the classroom to accommodate for standardized tests directs students’ attention to skills that they will likely not use again unless going into a field in that subject. Taking the time to teach real-world applicable skills would greatly benefit students more than understanding the countless forms of math.
With most tests, only one answer can be correct. Many people think and interpret content differently, making it difficult to follow the guidelines of standardized testing. If a student doesn’t think exactly how the test-makers want them to, there’s no room for creative interpretation or differences in understanding. Creative and out-of-the-box thinking remains widely encouraged in education, yet testing restricts these ideals.
Testing anxiety limits some students’ ability to perform well on tests. This form of anxiety involves extreme feelings of stress and fear before a test, sending the body into “fight-or-flight” mode, which in turn makes concentrating during tests difficult. Most standardized tests determine a furthering education point; rather that’s the STAAR test which allows continuation in third to eleventh grade, or the SAT/ACT representing a determining factor for many colleges and scholarship opportunities. Relieving this pressure would help students who struggle with testing anxiety to flourish and remain encouraged in their education. Likewise, if the testing conditions – sound, comfortability of seating, lighting, familiarity of surroundings, etc – do not accommodate the majority of students’ needs, it’s unlikely that they’ll perform well. The more distractions and unfamiliarity, the worse students will do. Application-based tests or projects will better represent the understanding of the content and allow students to feel confident in their abilities rather than passing a test just to advance to the next level.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) holds a five-year contract with Pearson Education totalling roughly $90 million. This cost covers the writing, distribution and grading of STAAR testing. Pearson, a London-based company, facilitates the test. Sending millions of dollars to a foreign company may pose a risk and be inefficient, as Pearson can’t see the effects of these tests on Texas students. Instead of spending this much money on a test that doesn’t benefit students, the TEA should use this money to pay their teachers more.
Proponents of standardized tests believe that it provides a way to measure student’s comprehension and understanding on a general level without including any bias. However, it creates a greater bias than not, as these tests appeal to the students with access to more resources and who are generally better test takers, rather than representing all.
The unfair advantages some students encounter remain unrepresentative of the population and provide reasoning for why standardized testing should be abolished. The Texas Education Agency should focus on implementing application-based learning in classrooms, as it accurately reflects the understanding of content. Standardized testing, serving as the primary indicator of educational progress, is unfair and highly unrepresentative of true intelligence.
