Every year high school students are crammed in a room that is most likely too cold for comfort, with 25 stressed classmates, in complete silence for hours (with no snacks) and we are expected to take a test with content that is unknown to both students and teachers. Students spend days in advance to prepare to take these tests that help determine graduation, and future plans.

Standardized tests are said to play a major role in education today, and have been a disputed topic of conversation for quite some time now. They are said to track a students progress and test their ability to apply the knowledge they have obtained that year, as well as being tested on material that has been learned in previous years. This is what we have been told for many years and what teachers and students continue to believe. But how effective are they really?

These tests have been being administered for a long time now, the content today is fairly similar to the tests that were introduced in 1926. College boards were testing students on 315 multiple choice questions covering the same topics that the testes contain today. English, Math proficiency, and Science content was all involved. However, the academic content students are expected to learn and are required to know before graduation is not providing them with what they need post- high school.

After graduation we will not have anyone to hold our hand through everything, we need communication, resourcefulness, being able to stand up to failure, or being able to appreciate the people and environment  around us, finding the passion and purpose in life. These are capabilities students all need. Except students  walk out of high school with the idea that we need to have everything figured out. Instead of preparing us for the obstacles students will face, they continue to be tested on academic based material that many will never use after high school

Graduation Requirement

Not only have standardized tests become a benchmark for improvement, but they have been made into graduation requirements for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Which goes towards adding to the stress level and importance that is afforded these tests.

When looking at the Washington State report card for standardized testing there is a jump, from 53% of students passing the SBA ELA to almost 74% passing the year after it being made into a graduation requirement.

Arguments in Favor

Standardized tests allow parents and teachers to gauge how well the students are performing and comprehending the information that they are supposed to acquire that year. It informs them of improvement the students have made over the years as well as feedback on if their students are meeting the expectations or not. Having this type of feedback can allow teachers to fit the curriculum to what the students need. Instead of focusing on topics that they are already strong in it gives the opportunity to improve the areas that need it most.

Since these tests are being administered on computers, it has the option of being a computer adaptive assessment, which is beneficial in regards to testing students. The computerized version of these tests allow them to adapt to the examinee’s ability level. “The computer adaptive aspect is very useful to challenge those students easily passing the material and ensuring that a student near standard has further chances to prove ability without being overwhelmed by really difficult questions.” said Tahoma English teacher, Anne Hobson.

School practitioners also use statewide test results in order to benchmark students achievement across school and district lines. This makes it much easier in regards to  comparing schools and districts for the quality of education they are providing, based on how their students are testing.

Arguments Against

According to the article, “How much testing is too much?” written by Erik Robelen, 62% of teachers say they spend too much time reading students  and 81% believe too much time is spent taking these tests. There is an extensive amount of time that goes into preparing students for these tests. This preparation involves review of old material, training teachers how to use the programs, setting up classrooms and testing days, and gathering all the materials needed for all the students

Parents, teachers and students have voiced concerns about weather or not the material on these tests are able to account for multiple intelligences. When asked if standardized tests accommodates for multiple intelligences Hilary Ledford quoted Albert Einstein in saying “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by Its ability to climb a tree, It will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” We, as a society, cannot forget that intelligence is not always connected to a test score of some sort.

Students Thoughts

“I feel like it’s just been test after test, and that’s how it’s always been. We study the materials teachers give us, take the test, only to forget what we had just learned shortly after. And this is a cycle that continues for every single standardized test we take. We cram as much information in as we can so we can recite it, we are not able to retain it for longer than test day.” Said Anonymous Sophomore at Tahoma High School.

Proposed Solution

We go to school each day for 12 years. We are expected to show up and learn the content, and standardized tests limits how much of our knowledge we can show. Our intelligence is determined by multiple choice questions that we memorize the answer to until the school year is over. Instead of memorizing information that is given to us, it would be much more useful to apply knowledge that we will need to know down the road to be successful in what we are actually passionate about. Tests that are able to take personal preference, and multiple intelligences into account would be more effective while evaluating the intelligence that is needed after high school. If we administer a test that is given once a year and evaluates each student on things that they will individually need for their future paths. So much stress would be relieved,  intelligence scores would be taken into a whole new perspective, and the content/ scores would actually be an accurate reflection the students and teachers could evaluate.