Standardized tests have historically been used as measures of how students compare with each other or how much of a particular curriculum they have learned. Increasingly, standardized tests are being used to make major decisions about students, such as grade promotion or graduation, and schools. More and more often, they also are intended to shape the curriculum and instruction. Students across America have had to repeat classes because of the way standardized tests are used to pass or fail students. Students have had to rely on just one test to pass them for the whole semester (Fair Test). Although the tests require students to retain information until the end of the semester, I believe it is wrong to allow just a single test to decide whether an entire semester’s work will be rewarded will the credit that may have been well earned.
Even general standardized tests such as the SAT, which almost every high school student has taken, are not fair to students who may come from a poor educational background (Standardized Minds). Students are at a disadvantage if they have test taking anxiety, a condition that many students suffer from. If a student is having a bad day or going through a rough time on a test day, this may also determine their entire semester’s work. Standardized tests are often based on one topic, giving the student little room to express their strong points. Tests are called ‘high-stakes’ when they used to make major decisions about a student, such as high school graduation or grade promotion. Tests are called ‘standardized’ when all students answer the same questions under similar conditions and their responses are scored in the same way.
Research has shown that high-stakes testing causes damage to individual students and education. It is not a reasonable method for improving schools. Test-taking anxiety is common among high school and college students. The anxiety can be quite stressful and sometimes weakening, both personally and academically.
It is a condition that thousands of students suffer from and it is something that they cannot help or overcome by the time of a test. Students who suffer from this often get very panicked by exams, and most of the time they draw a blank during a test, even though they know the material well (High-stakes). This anxiety is very difficult for students to overcome especially when the test results will determine whether or not they will pass the course, or even graduate. I believe that the school board should take this into consideration and recognize that intelligent students who do well in school also suffer from this anxiety. Tests are designed to evaluate what was learned over a period of time, not to punish the student for what may confuse them on a test. When standardized tests contain other information that may not have been covered in class students often panic and do poorly on the exam.
Aside from having the anxiety and stress from testing, students also go through times of loss, tragedy, crisis or any other life changing events that cause distraction in their school work. Every student has their bad days no matter what. How students cope with it is the issue. Many high school and college students have difficulty coping and dealing with their problems and it often reflects on not only their school work but more importantly their exams. The standardized testing system is not fair under these circumstances.
I as well as many other students across America experience several days during which it is extremely difficult for me to concentrate and apply myself to the fullest while having other worries and concerns on my mind. With this in mind, it is wrong for these exams to be a determinant on the passing or failing of a course. The school board has not given students any other options or alternatives to accommodate them during hard times. Many times when students are going through a tragedy or crisis and are required to take a standardized test, they are overwhelmed with the stress of test taking anxiety at the same time (Fair Test).
‘Don’t punish students for the state’s failure’ was the message from a standing-room-only crowd jamming a hearing room in the Legislative Office Building, as members of the San Francisco Board of Education and dozens of other supporters joined one hundred high school students organized by Californians for Justice to protest the High School Exit Exam (NYtimes). State standards are often too long and detailed to ever be taught in the classroom. Many fail to distinguish what is important from what is unimportant or to separate what all students ought to learn in a subject from what only the most interested might learn. Partly because of the level of detail, much of the content in state standards is not assessed by state tests.
Moreover, much of value in state standards cannot be tested with any paper-and-pencil test that is only a few hours long. In a high quality education, students conduct science experiments, solve real-world math problems, write research papers, read novels and stories and analyze them, make oral presentations, evaluate information from a variety of fields, and apply their learning to new situations (Who’s Teaching). Standardized tests are poor tools for evaluating these important kinds of learning. If instruction focuses on the test, students will not learn these skills, which are needed for success in college and often in life. Much of today’s testing and examination requires students to reflect on specific events, subjects or other media topics. Not all students take the same courses.
Therefore, they are either more or less educated or informed on specific subjects that the student may later be tested on during a standardized examination. The test questions need to be more broad and not so specific, giving the student more opportunity to express in detail what they do know rather than the minor information that they may or may not know about a specific topic (Contradictions). I believe that giving the student this opportunity would be much more effective in really evaluating how much knowledge the student actually has about a subject matter. The standardized testing system is wrong for denying high school and college students their right to express their strong points.
When students fail a course because they failed a test, the result is often due to poorly worded questions and narrow subject areas. No student should be at an advantage or disadvantage during an examination. To prevent this, while the exams are graded, educators should keep in mind the student’s educational background to see if they obtained enough knowledge to answer the question given. Over all, the standardized testing system should definitely not determine whether a student passes or fails a course. Test standards and major research groups such as the National Academy of Sciences clearly state that major educational decisions should not be based solely on a test score. High-stakes testing punishes students, and often teachers, for things they cannot control.
It drives students and teachers away from learning, and at times from school (Fair Test). Assessments of educational strengths and weaknesses can be useful at the individual, classroom, school or district levels. However, information the needs to be sufficiently timely, accurate, meaningful, detailed and comprehensive for the kind of diagnosis being made. Even outstanding students with high grade point averages are highly capable of failing a final exam due to anxieties and other conditions that almost every student experiences. Although standardized tests will still be given to students everywhere, the pass fail system must stop. There are alternatives that may be taken to give every student a fair chance while still keeping the effectiveness of the tests.
One possibility could be to make the final exam a large part of the student’s grade but not a determinant of whether the student passes or fails. A student who understands and learned the material over the entire semester should not have to repeat a course just because of one bad test result.