Standardized testing is a part of all public schools. Each standardized test is different in every state, and each states have different expectations. Standardized tests are also used to determine how certain ethnic groups minorities are doing compared to everyone else. Although standardized tests are used nationally they can be very misleading.
I remember taking standardized tests when I was in school, they were just so frustrating. I remember that I would always do very well on the first section that we did each day, then by the middle of the day I was just guessing on my answers, this got even worse towards the end of the day. One of the hardest things for me was if we finished early we had to read a novel. Seriously we were forced to read a novel, like if all the work we did was just not enough. Or like if we did not have to continue taking the standardized test in fifteen minutes, and continue for more hours and days to come. Dornan, Rosen, and Wilson (1997) talk about standardized testing in their book, Multiple Voices, Multiple Texts: Reading in the Secondary Content Areas. What these authors focus on is the problematic issues with standardized testing. Dornan et al., talk about seven problems with standardized testing they are as follows:
1. Reading tests based on an inappropriate model of reading.
2. Inappropriate norms.
3. Impact of small variations in raw score.
4. Use of statistical devices to produce scores.
5. Ambiguous, irrelevant, poorly written, or purposely hard questions.
6. Guessing.
7. Test administration.
Dornan, Rosen, & Wilson, 1997, p.118
The problem is not that there are issues with standardized testing. The problem is that we judge our students as being smart or not smart based on these scores. Sometimes we even base our teaching capacity off of the scores. These tests are very difficult especially because students never know what to expect. I also believe that these test writers try to trick students, purposely posing very difficult questions or trick questions. Another problem that comes from standardized questions is simply that there are to many questions. Each subject contains hundreds of questions and most of the subjects have multiple parts. I do not believe that either of this predictions are correct, I agree with Dornan et al., the standardized tests are problematic and many factors, not just intelligence, determine whether a student will do well or not.
At the school I taught at we realized that students did better at the beginning of the day, so we only tested in the morning, never in the afternoon. There are so many factors that conflict with testing.
ReplyDeleteI always feel that standardized test itself is not the root of all problems, but the way how schools, teachers and parents understand it.
ReplyDeleteI hated the standardized tests that I had to take in school. In the days leading up to the tests all I felt was that they where teaching us how to take the tests, instead of the material that was on the test. I also felt that the tests where misleading. I felt this because it only covers what some may feel is important and it doesn't cover the other parts of the academic spectrum. Also, it is not a test that is designed for different discourses, it is one set standard fro the test and there is no other option when taking take standardized tests.
ReplyDeleteIn the school district that I teach in Standardized test STRESS out teachers and students. Test scores label student and these scores stay with them. I think that once testing starts students are taken of their normal schedule and it makes it harder for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that standardized tests are a poor way of gauging how well a student, teacher or even a school is doing. I think that it is stupid to base funding on these tests, we should maybe base it on the percentage of kids who graduate and go to college, or something that actually matters. I feel like in our public schools we put way too much emphasis on them, and not enough on the important things that we can teach our students. I never knew that teachers actually had to prepare their students for these tests and that it took time out of class to do so.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kelsey. How can a low test score be acompanied by lower funding? Doesn't that mean that because they recieved such low scores that they need more funding in order to better educate their students? I was a horrible standardize test taker, or any test for that matter. It just isn't an accurate measurement of knowledge. It is a starting point but I seriously don't understand how you can guage the knowledge obtained when there are so many different factors that go into becoming knowledgable.
ReplyDeleteI attended a private school, so I did not have to deal with testing every year. I hear all the horror stories and I think there is too much pressure being put on both our students and teachers.
ReplyDelete