Testing: Helpful or Harmful?

Standardized testing was once a thing of respect. Students studied and gave their best efforts; getting ready for the SAT or ACT was a coming of age passage. Now, standardized testing has become a national phenomenon. Schools are cramming tests into every curriculum and causing an outrage from students, parents and teachers around the nation.

Scientists and researchers looked into the new phenomenon, and have found more negatives than positives. Physical, mental, and physiological effects on students are now associated with standardized testing has.

The Facts

All around the U.S standardized testing it being talked about. According to the Washington Post, there are many negative effects of standardized testing, including but not limited to, loss of learning time, narrowed curriculum, and school closure.

Students and teachers both experience loss of learning time. An unnamed Treasure Mountain Junior High (TMJH) teacher, states they lose 10% of their overall class time per year for testing.

The curriculum can become narrowed due to “teaching to the test.” Teaching to the test is an educational method whose curriculum is heavily focused on preparing students for a standardized test. This can result in reduced content knowledge. Students struggle to show knowledge of mastery outside of the testing format.

The stigma around standardized testing is poor within the TMJH community. I often hear that students will not try because they do not care, or do not wish to be placed in honors classes. Kids have no respect for the tests, even the smartest students do not put in 110% into the tests. Students have admitted to purposefully doing poorly because they do not like the teacher who teaches the subject. All results are skewed and not an accurate representation of student intelligence.

When test results are skewed on mid-year tests, teachers often take this as a sign of students not understanding the curriculum concepts. Thus, leading to the following few weeks of classes being massive review. Teachers assume students do not understand basic concepts because students decided to engage in mindless chatter and childlike behavior during designated test time. This “review” time is unproductive and takes away from actual learning. This leads to more class time wasted on standardized testing.

In TMJH, test results are skewed because of lack of student interest. Luckily, Park City parents value education and has the money to disregard standardized test scores. For other districts, they are not so lucky.

Closing Schools, because of Testing?

Schools close around the country for many reasons; the first being low graduation rates and the second, surprisingly, was low scores on standardized testing.

Grace Chen’s article, Why Public Schools Across the Country are Closing Their Campuses, she reports that in New York City, nineteen public schools were closed because of poor academic performance. The New York Times reported that 91 schools have closed since 2002 in New York City. The Chicago Tribune reported fourteen public schools closing in Chicago. Cleveland, Ohio and Providence, Rhode Island have also had major public schools shut down.

Shutting down schools is not a solution to poor testing. Especially if, like the Park City School District, results are skewed because of lack of seriousness around testing. When a school closes, the district can do one of two things: transfer teachers and students to another district or reopen the facility under different staff and leadership.

The White House On Testing

President Obama and Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, side with a nation of stressed students as they limit testing times. Obama states “testing shouldn't crowd out teaching and learning and should just be one of many tools to measure how students and schools are performing.” Arne Duncan says, despite benefits, testing has become too time consuming and show redundancy.

The Washington-based Council of Great City Schools reported that "there is no correlation between mandated testing time and reading math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress."

President Obama posted a short video on The White House’s facebook page, summing up the issue quite well with a simple quote. “If our kids had more free time at school, what would you want them to do with it? A) Learn to play a musical instrument B) Study a new language C) Learn how to code HTML D) Take more standardized testing.”

The answer was not D.

Personal Experience

In the past month, I took the English, Math, and Science Galileo testing. The Galileo test is a mid-year standardized test. For many reasons, I was frustrated with not only the structure surrounding the test, but also the test itself.

Last year, as an eighth grader, I took the SAT and ACT because of qualifications from the ERB standardized testing from the year before, seventh grade. I like to think of myself as a good student, and by extension, tester. For the SAT, I scored above the Utah average and received an eight on the essay. For the ACT, I received a 22. This year, I am enrolled in all AP and Honors classes.

This is my first year in the Utah public school system, and I had to take the Galileo tests. They were horrible. That statement could very well stem from my frustration of a changed bell schedule, resulting in me missing or leaving early from many of my advanced classes, which take place in another building. But, as I reflect once having completed the tests, the tests itself had many problems.

To start, the questions were worded and structured nothing like the SAT or ACT. This had me doubting the student benefit of taking these tests. I understand many students struggle with test taking anxiety: one of the reasons my parents had me take the tests early, and I know practice is really the only cure to this anxiety. The Galileo testing is not practice. As an honors student, the tests were below my ability and comprehension level. I tried my best and checked my answers, but beyond that, these tests mean nothing to me. My parents also do not care how I perform on these tests.

Additionally, the content is outdated to the current curriculum. In all three Galileo tests, I experienced a wide range of complete comprehension to questioning when the content was taught. Specifically, the biology test.

The test did not feel stressful, but I am unsure about my performance. Much of the content on the test has not been taught yet in my Honors Biology class yet. Approximately fifteen questions had content I recognized from class this year. Many of the questions, specifically the DNA and genotype questions (which were a vast majority of the questions), I recognized from previous science classes and have a basic familiarity with. A basic familiarity does not make me feel comfortable in my results and knowledge on a midyear test.

I also experienced this in the English and Math tests, but not to the extreme I did in the biology exam.

As an honors student, I do not feel Galileo is worth my time. There are many, more efficient ways to collect student information, which is why we are taking the test according to some teachers.

To add to this already terrible situation, Treasure Mountain Junior High and and Park City High School are on different bell periods during testing weeks. This is because the high school elected to not administer the Galileo test. Because of this, I missed an entire week of math; my parents were very upset. I am also leaving classes early and arriving late because of the bell schedule. The Galileo testing affects other aspects of our school day.

Technology With Testing

Technology has become integrated into every aspect of the modern world, why should testing be any different? Standardized testing is becoming more and more computerized as of late. The Galileo tests are completely electronic, from the questions to the data.

According to unnamed source, the data is organized solely by the internet. Teachers are able to view and use the information, often called benchmark data, but even school’s tech centers are unable to manipulate or reorganize the data.

The most common issue with online testing origins in the computer. To access the test, most students have to update their java or flash player; but we are not told that until it is time to log into the tests.

This causes elevated stress levels, which makes it very difficult for students to focus and test their best. Additionally, students start their test late, resulting in them having to make it up. To make it up, they miss their next class, resulting in more learning time handed over to standardized testing.

Is There A Positive Outcome?

While many students, teachers, and parents believe that standardized testing has a negative effect on students, it is not a universal opinion. An anonymous teacher has given their input on the issue. According to the source, Galileo data is “intended to show teachers and students how much growth towards mastery of standards occurs from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.”

In the teacher's opinion, Galileo “is a great use of data and provides comprehensive information to teachers that wouldn't occur otherwise.” When asked the question if there were any cons to testing, the teacher stated “Testing does take time, but I think this is time well spent for the information it provides.”

Additionally, the teacher disagrees that the stigma around testing is poor. She goes as far to state “Some students are enthusiastic about the growth they demonstrated. Also, some students are proud of their proficiency scores. Also, there's some apathy regarding testing in general, and that is just human nature. You can't please everyone all the time.”

Conclusion

I do not feel like Galileo is helping Park City students in any way. To put it bluntly, it is a waste of time, money, and effort. Standardized testing has a negative effect on the physical, mental, and overall physiological state of students.

Sources

Strauss, Valerie. "13 Ways High-stakes Standardized Tests Hurt Students." The Washington

Post. The Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2016.

"Standardized Tests." ProConorg Headlines. ProCon.org, 3 Apr. 2015. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.

Chen, Grace. "Why Public Schools Across the Country Are Closing Their Campuses." Public

School Review. Publicschoolreview.com, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.

Sellors, Alyssa. "Should Failing Schools Be Closed?" Should Failing Schools Be Closed?

Demand Media, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.

Liptak, Kevin, and Laurie Ure. "Obama Administration Announces New Testing Guidelines."

CNN. Cable News Network, 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.