Standardized testing isn’t cutting it

Education in the United States has shifted its focus over the past decade or so in terms of how students and teachers are evaluated. This shift has brought about a heavy reliance on standardized testing to measure student and teacher performance. Many feel this is not the best way to assess learning, and they may be right.

Since 2001, after No Child Left Behind was passed, students in the United States are required to take a standardized test each year to demonstrate their math and reading skills. These tests than are examined and not only are the students evaluated, but their teachers as well. Standardized testing has become what students are learning, and unfortunately, what teachers are forced to teach to. These tests were designed to assess student and teacher growth, which is fine, but they are one of the only, if not the only large factor evaluating students and teachers. That is a flawed system that creates stress for both teacher and student, and forces teachers to alter their curriculum.

There are many different learning styles that exist, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or tactile learning, being the main ones. Each student learns differently and what might work for one student will not work as well for another. Tests are an extension of that. Some students are great test takers. They are able to complete tests very efficiently because their minds are very good at it. Others, struggle on tests. They may know all of the material that they will be tested on, but when put in a test format they have difficulties. Standardized tests are more of a detriment to these types of students and there aren’t alternatives for them. So much of their performance is based on these tests they take every year that they struggle on. There needs to be other ways to measure student growth throughout the school year to accommodate.

If more alternatives are used to measure student growth and teacher effectiveness, there would be a more accurate assessment of our nation’s students and teachers. Because so much value is placed on these standardized tests, teachers are forced to structure their school year for teaching for the test. They are forced to curtail topics they want to expose students to because their jobs, especially non-tenured teachers, have a lot riding on the performance of their students on these tests.

Standardized testing needs to be supplemented with other evaluation tools for both student and teachers’ sake. By including more ways to assess students and teachers, a clearer picture would form. Students would be able to display their improvements through multiple methods, not just tests. Teachers would have more opportunities to show their administration that they are effective teachers that facilitate and challenge their students in various ways, instead of teaching and preparing their students for a test all year long.