Kerstiens 1 Kimmie Kerstiens Mr.

Merritt VTfT II- 3B 21 March 2014 Standardized Tests Do Not Set the Standards Michelle Obama once said, If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that. Over the years, standardized testing has become the go to source for determining how competent students and schools are on the whole. Test scores do not accurately define the education level of students because of factors such as learning disabilities, test anxiety, poor teaching, and teaching to the test. Although testing students for knowledge and understanding is essential, a standardized test given on one day does not clearly represent a students, teachers, or schools competency level. Learning disabilities are more common than one would expect. Approximately 2.4 million students have been diagnosed with a learning disability and receive services through the special education programs within schools (Editorial Team). Symptoms of the three biggest learning disabilities of students are Dyslexia, a language-based processing disorder, Dyscalculia, a math related disorder, and Dysgraphia, a writing related disorder (Types). Any one, or a combination, of these disorders could heavily affect a students test score, exposing a fault in the standardized test system. In my internship class, I have six students who get assistance from the special education teachers. Although these particular students do receive some accommodations because of their learning disabilities, their scores may still be hindered in particular ways and to varying degrees. As a result, some of these students scores do not reflect their actual academic ability thus exposing flaws in the testing system.

Kerstiens 2 Along with learning disabilities, other issues such as lack of test taking skills can affect students test scores. Test anxiety is a large problem that can have a disruptive effect on a students ability to test successfully in general and can have mild to severe affects with symptoms that vary. There are three categories of symptoms, including physical symptoms, cognitive and behavioral symptoms, and emotional symptoms. The physical symptoms of test anxiety are sweating, shaking, developing a rapid heartbeat, having dry mouth, and, in worse case scenarios, feelings of fainting and nausea can occur. The cognitive and behavioral symptoms consist of being fidgety and avoiding testing at all costs. Emotional symptoms that can appear because of test anxiety are depression and developing low self-esteem and anger issues (Cherry). All of these symptoms affect a students ability when it comes to test taking. A student in elementary school may receive an AP (Advanced Proficient) on all classwork and homework assignments in every subject, but could get a failing score on a standardized test because of the panic attacks that evolve from test anxiety. For standardized test scores to really be an accurate measure of a schools competency level, the world would have to be a perfect place, with no learning disabilities, no test anxiety, and nothing else that could negatively impact test scores. Standardized tests have not always been the option people used to determine the proficiency of schools. Tests were not as important for measuring schools capabilities until 2001, with the passing of President Bushs No Child Left Behind Act, which requires states to rate schools based on test results in order to receive federal funds (Kastenbaum). Not only did test scores become a fight for money back in 2001, but President Obama and his administration offered an extra 4.3 billion dollars to school administrations in the Race to the Top competition. With this competition, not only were students and schools being assessed based on

Kerstiens 3 how high their standardized test scores were, but now teachers were being identified as either good or bad because of their students test scores. Not only are standardized tests an inaccurate way to measure a students academic achievement, but now a teacher could lose his or her job based on their students test scores (Kastenbaum). It is understandable that a teacher would be fired if he or she repeatedly has classes that receive below average test scores, but it is not acceptable to base that decision purely on the results of a standardized test. A concept that has evolved since standardized testing became popular to school systems around the country is teaching to the test. This is when a teacher focuses on the specific information that will be presented in the test, using the test as the foundation for the lessons that will be taught. Although this teaching style may increase test scores because of the excess time spent teaching test-taking skills, it focuses on content that is less-broad than a teacher who is not teaching to the test. Since this method constricts the curriculum, it forces both the teacher and the students to begin learning by memorization rather than by fully understanding the concepts they are being taught (Strauss). Considering in Virginia teachers are given certain SOL objectives that they must teach, teaching to the test may seem like the easy way out, but it is not the answer. It is important to follow these guidelines to ensure the best education is being given to the student, but teachers must put in effort to make sure the students fully understand the content so they can apply it later in their school careers, and not just on their upcoming SOL test. While some students might adapt well to the teaching practice of teaching to the test, it could negatively affect others. An interesting analogy related to standardized testing has been brought up by saying that: Employing standardized achievement tests to ascertain educational quality is like measuring temperature with a tablespoon. Tablespoons have a different measurement

Kerstiens 4 mission than indicating how hot or cold something is. Standardized achievement tests have a different measurement mission than indicating how good or bad a school is (Popham). With administrators, teachers, and students feeling extra pressure to make their test scores increase, many administrators will go to any length to keep their test score results up, even if that entails corrupting the system. Cheating has become a relevant topic when it comes to testing and the additional pressure added has even made some administrators put their lower level students into special education programs to lessen the impact of their scores (Evans). It has come down to the fact that, because of all the pressure that standardized tests cause, students are not getting scores that reflect the best of their abilities. When speaking about standardized tests, Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, part of the Texas Association of School Administrators, said that, This one test has become the single measure for a students success, for a schools success, and thats what is absolutely wrong. She is correct when she says that because a persons intelligence level cannot strictly be determined based off one test score taken on one single day. Standardized tests are not only being given in the higher grade levels but are beginning to be seen more in elementary schools. Elementary students in Virginia begin taking these tests in the third grade. The fourth grade students in my internship class will have to take two SOLs this year: reading and math. Although the big concern with how much standardized testing affects a schools competency level is in the middle and high schools, all of the pressure of testing affects the elementary schools as well. One may say, but SOLs in the elementary school do not affect a students graduation status, but that does not mean they do not account for something. In the younger levels of education, these tests show teachers and administrators which students are capable of advancing on to the next grade without a struggle, while also identifying the students

Kerstiens 5 who seem unlikely to succeed as well in the grade ahead of them. All of the same fundamental principles such as learning disabilities, test anxiety, poor test taking skills, and teaching to the test apply in the elementary schools as well. In my internship class I have a wide-range of students from some with special education needs to some gifted students. While a few of these students might not do as well as others on their upcoming SOL tests, it seems a bit unfair for my teacher, or any teacher, to have the possibility of losing his or her job because of a few students test scores. Critics who believe that standardized tests provide a good reflection of a schools competency level believe in three main supporting arguments. The first is that standardized tests hold teachers and schools in each state accountable. They also believe that tests allow the comparison of school to school, school district to school district, and so on. Finally, testing allows teachers to form their instruction time around the tests (Meador). Although these are interesting points, one can only hold the teachers and schools accountable for so much; students also need to be held accountable, especially in lower socio-economic areas where dropout rates are high. Some of these students will not put forth their greatest efforts on these tests, just the bare minimum. With that being said, it is not accurate to purely look at test scores in an effort to hold teachers and schools accountable. While test scores do give the schools a better opportunity to compare schools and school districts, it is hard to compare two separate schools or two separate districts full of different students. One school could only have fifteen percent of its students take part in special education programs, while the other one could have thirty percent. In regard to the argument of forming instruction time around tests, that goes back to teaching the test. As mentioned earlier, teaching the test narrows the framework from which teachers can teach, leading to students becoming memorization learners instead of fully comprehending the

Kerstiens 6 content. Standardized tests also obstruct certain parts of learning, for example real life skills which cannot be demonstrated through test-taking. Although accountability has its place, a single test is not an accurate way to measure a schools competency level. Whether it is because of learning disabilities, poor test taking, teaching to the test, or adding pressure to collect federal funds, standardized tests cannot fully show the intelligence level or ability level of a student. Once tests can account for real world skills, the test will be a more accurate indicator of ability. Additionally, comparing and rating teachers, schools and school districts based on student test scores does not accurately reflect the actual level of competence found in our schools today. In the future when I am a teacher, I plan to take all of the aspects that affect test taking into consideration, and try to find ways to make my students more confident with test taking, without spending too much time on test taking strategies. I also plan on following the guidelines of the curriculum but not directly teaching from multiple choice questions that could arise on future standardized tests. Instead, I will teach them through lessons and activities until they have a good understanding of the content. When I think of good teachers, I think that they are the ones that can overcome obstacles and fully teach their students the information they need without always worrying about what the outcome of their students future SOL test scores will be.

Kerstiens 7 Works Cited Cherry, Kendra. "The Symptoms of Test Anxiety." About.com Psychology. About.com, n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2014. Editorial Team, NCLD. "Learning Disability Fast Facts." NCLD. The National Center for Learning Disabilities Inc., n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2014. Evans, Jasmine. "Problems With Standardized Testing (page 2)." Problems With Standardized Testing Page 2. Education.com, 04 Nov. 2013. Web. 04 Jan. 2014. Kastenbaum, Steve. "The High Stakes of Standardized Tests." Web log post. Schools of Thought RSS. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., 17 May 2012. Web. 06 Jan. 2014. Meador, Derrick. "Standardized Testing." About.com Teaching. About.com, n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2014. Obama, Michelle. "Standardized Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2014. Popham, W. James. "Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality." Educational Leadership:Using Standards and Assessments:Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality. ASCD, Mar. 1999. Web. 04 Jan. 2014. Strauss, Valerie. "What's Wrong with Standardized Tests?" The Answer Sheet -. The Washington Post, 27 May 2010. Web. 06 Jan. 2014. "TYPES OF LD." NCLD. The National Center for Learning Disabilities Inc., n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2014.