Running head: THE EFFECTS OF STANDARDIZED TESTING

The Effects of Standardized Testing

Kennedy Werre
Lorelei Boschman
Medicine Hat College
EDTS 232
October 27, 2015

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The ongoing discussion of government standardize testing has had a strong impact on
how people view the Alberta education system. There are two forms of standardize testing that
occur, Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs), which occur at grades three, six, and nine, and
Diploma Exams (DIPs) in grade twelve. Parents, students, teachers, and administrators have
contemplated whether they are harming or benefiting the education system as a whole. How can
the government decide what is best? It all begins by looking at the advantages and disadvantages
of the tests. The purpose of this paper is to explore those specific reasons, such as: the impact of
testing within the classroom, the effects testing has on students, and the reporting/usage of tests
results within school districts. In addition, throughout the paper you will also endure things like:
scholarly articles with information, websites to increase background knowledge, and a personal
interview with a teacher.
To begin, there are various ways that standardize testing impacts the classroom as a
whole, starting with educators themselves. Teachers have the most stressful job of all which
entails making sure that their students achieve high test results. With that being said, they tend to
allocate a significant amount of their class time preparing for these standardize tests, making
less time available for non-tested subjects and for depth and breadth within tested subjects
(Despres, 2013, p. 10). With the focus set on high tests scores, it takes away instructional time
that could improve student learning in other aspects. Students learn best when they are engaged
within the material and sometimes teachers must go outside and take extra measures to make
sure that their students are fully understanding and grasping the concepts. Learning includes the
acquisition of knowledge, skills and other cognitive abilities such as: creativity, problem-solving,
understanding, and developing critical thinking skills. Standardize tests favour a convergent type
of thinking with short-term memory and recall, where they evaluate their results in an efficient

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manner usually in the form of multiple choice and short open-ended written responses. The
problem with this is such tests are not readily adapted to fostering the development of creativity
and higher-order thinking skills supporting instructional techniques [learned all year round]
(Despres, 2013, p. 11). These techniques include discovery-based learning, taking on
multifaceted and ambiguous questions, and the performing of experiments. There is a reasonable
balance between the countervailing forces that pressure teachers, students and administrators to
attain better test scores. Pressure within a classroom may interfere with the development of an
atmosphere of positive learning and discovery, especially in younger students. An interesting
point researchers have argued is the pressure of educators have to achieve results undermines
teaching as a profession. The over-emphasis of these results can weaken the teachers role in
determining the content and methods of instruction, making them into efficiency experts who
[carry] out instruction determined by someone else (Despres, 2013, p. 11). The down side of
this is teachers are forgetting the importance of the tools in which they were taught in school in
regards to educating a successful classroom. Tools such as the multiple intelligences, different
learning styles, inquiry-based learning, teaching metacognition, and so on. This effects student
learning immensely as a teachers main focus isnt on allowing students to understand the
knowledge being taught in different ways but more so directed towards ensuring students meet
the standardized test scores. The impact that standardize tests have in a classroom setting effects
how students learn, and the belief is this needs to be changed.
Furthermore, the results of standardize testing severely effects students the most out of
everyone. This is tragic as the information that is provided throughout a students education, in
turn guides them onto their path of life. On the Alberta Teachers Association website, which
regards all educators across Alberta, some teachers strongly believe that PATs do not improve

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teaching and learning at all and may have a negative impact on students and schools. A few
issues that the website states are: second-language modified programs and special education
students are required to be tested, how not all children perform well on tests even if they know
the material, the unnecessary stress students experience while writing, [and so on] (The Alberta
Teachers Association, 2015, para. 20-22). Standardized testing creates unnecessary, harmful
stress on students as they are pressured to not only demonstrate their knowledge but to also
represent the effectiveness of their teachers and schools. Resulting in this, teachers have reported
students throwing up, losing control of their bowels, and increased commitments for psychiatric
and anxiety issues. These standardize tests dont take into consideration that students express
their understanding of knowledge differently. Some students dont perform well on tests even
when they know the material, but if they were given an opportunity to illustrate their learning in
a different format such as a mind map or doing a lab experiment they would succeed. They also
dont consider potentially what goes on at home; maybe the student didnt eat breakfast that
morning, or was up all night throwing up, then they have to come to school and write a test thats
worth a portion of their mark, grade twelve most heavily (thirty percent). Struggling students
who must take the tests, which are designed to fail a portion of test-takers (Strauss, 2014,
para.13), begin to believe they are bad or worthless students who cannot succeed in school,
which leads to a loss of curiosity and love of learning. This effects students as once they go into
the next grade they dont have the edge to learn and this trend will often follow them through
their education career. With the exponential growth in the proportion of [English language
learners (ELLs)] now present in the mainstream elementary class setting [across Alberta]
(Roessingh, 2012, p. 426), provincial achievement tests do not look into the early language and
literacy development of these students who are still in the early stages of developing the English

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language, especially at the end of grade three. In 1992, ELLs represented just three percent of
the student population in large school urban jurisdictionsthey now represent twenty-five
percent of the student population [in 2010] (Roessingh, 2012, p. 426). As these ELL students
are developing literacy, researchers found that, they have a basic vocabulary but lack a
vocabulary reservoir or cushion of thousands of mid-range academic words (Roessingh, 2012,
p. 428), that their fellow classmates already have, putting them behind. Language learning is a
tedious and gradual process, and research evidence suggests that ELLs may still be as much as
two years behind [in grade six] ...[and] by grade twelve, three years or more (Roessingh, 2012,
p. 428). Testing these students is said to be unfair as they arent at the same, appropriate level of
reading/writing demands as English dominant learners, and will have a tough time grasping
concepts each year. Through much research, the effects of standardize testing on students is
generally found to be highly negative on students, and should be dealt with.
Within school districts, standardized testing can often be reported or used in various
competitive forms to see how well educators and schools are performing. Essentially, these
standardized tests are the only data that is available to determine the performance of students, but
the results have become analyzed and used in ways that test makers say are unintended. These
unintended uses of results often have long-term, frequent negative consequences for students
and for the learning system, because of the inappropriate ways the information is used (Despres,
2013, p. 12). School districts should not place inaccurate values on student test results as their
tests should not be used to make conclusions about overall school quality or to rank schools.
Standardized tests are intended for students to demonstrate their overall learning of subject areas
and for teachers to see where potential weaknesses in their curriculums are so they can reflect
and make changes. The unfortunate part is commentators and the media often publish results in

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a format that ranks schools, sometimes without necessary contextualization (Despres, 2013, p.
13). This can have a negative result as teachers will decide a school based on these publications
and some parents will end up deciding certain neighborhoods to live in. An auditor in Ontario
states that, real estate agents use the results of these tests to attract parents to areas with high
performing schools (Despres, 2013, p. 13). As a result of these rankings, school districts will
often look for ways to ignite their educators to push their students to achieve higher scores on
these standardized tests. A possible way that has been implemented is the idea of financial boosts
being distributed. In the 2001 school year, the Alberta Department of Education announced that
it would distribute 66 million [dollars] to school boards that show improvements in key
performance indicators (Wallace, 2000, p. 66). The federal funds are only given to the schools
that perform well as stated on a website. This often leads to unhealthy competition among the
schools (Columbia University, 2013, para.13), and the stress of all aspects of school districts
becomes increased and teachers will then be pressured more. The Calgary Public School Board
hired a resource person, with a doctorate and a salary of $70,000 a year- to assist schools and
teachers in improving provincial test scores (Wallace, 2000, p. 66). The stress that standardized
testing has on school districts put an immense amount of pressure on all individuals involved,
making decision makers go above and beyond just to improve test scores to be the best school
district, not focusing on student learning.
In a personal interview with retired teacher and vice principal, Robert Grisonich, I had
asked him various questions on his thoughts of standardized testing, PATs and DIPs
implemented in school systems. Robert taught mostly at the junior high level and was vice
principal of Notre Dame Academy. I had asked him generally what he had thought about
standardized testing and he told me that, it puts an immense amount of pressure on students and

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teachers especially, that is not necessary (Mr. Grisonich, 2015, Interview). He also states that
sometimes students come to school to write the test and they might have had something happen
at home the night before that caused them to be unfocussed for their exam. Now everything they
have learned throughout the year that they have demonstrated they understand is put at risk for
one test. He believes that teachers essentially start to become worried and second think their
capabilities of being a teacher when it comes down to these tests. I asked Rob if you could get
exempt from testing for extreme reasons. He told me that, yes students could get exempt but it
still counts towards the score average as a zero (Mr, Grisonich, 2015, Interview). Even though
students get exempt from the test and it doesnt effect their average, the school still takes a zero
for that one person not writing the exam. Clearly the main goal of school systems is to have the
highest possible tests scores, so this aspect makes it tough. Overall, Rob Grisonich believes that
PATs and DIPs arent the best answer to test students of their knowledge. The new Student
Learning Tests (SLTs) that are starting to be implemented in grade three, will hopefully create
change in proper standardized testing in the education system.
Being a student in Alberta for the past sixteen or so years of my life and have gone
through the standardized tests myself, and have taken a strong opinion on these tests. I believe
that these standardized tests are highly unnecessary and should not be used as the number one
source of assessing for student knowledge and understanding. I remember as a student in grade
six and nine, I would be so anxious for the PAT exams that I would get test anxiety while sitting
at my desk during the test, I was a smart kid and had high eightys and low ninetys all year.
When it came down to the tests, I always blanked in some areas, even when I knew the concept,
just because I was so stressed. The most stressed that I have ever been in my life was during high
school diplomas where the final exam was worth fifty percent of my mark. How is this

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acceptable? I personally dont write tests very well, but if I were given an option to explain in
words through an experiment, I would illustrate complete understanding of the topic. These tests
do not take into consideration that students all learn and demonstrate their understanding
differently, and this is a huge problem. Teachers arent teaching properly anymore as they are
incredibly stressed to teach to the test, that they forget concepts of educating that they learned
in school to obtain a successful and engaging classroom. It is time that the education systems get
rid of standardized testing and begin to trust the teachers evaluations as they obtained the
education to be able to do this properly. Standardized testing does not test for the right reasons;
it has become an evaluation tool for schools to compete against one another to be the best school
district.
In conclusion, with the times changing in which students are now learning, it is
absolutely crucial that the Alberta Education looks at all aspects of standardized testing. In this
century, children are learning concepts differently then before and the effects that standardized
testing has on students, teachers, and administrators is unfair based on the provided information
through this paper. These type of tests impact the classroom, have effects on students and the
way that the tests are used to create reports on schools is something to be aware of. Currently in
Alberta, Student Learning Tests, which are online testing for knowledge, are the first sign of
change being implemented in regards to Provincial Achievement Exams. It is important that
parents inform themselves with these standardized tests and make sure they take action in
ensuring that their children are succeeding in their education. Will Alberta Education find a
better way to implement testing for understanding of knowledge in their school systems?

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References
Columbia University. (2013). Pros and cons of standardized testing. Retrieved from:
http://worklife.columbia.edu/files_worklife/public/Pros_and_Cons_of_Standardized_Test
ing_1.pdf
Despres, S., Kuhn S., Ngirumpatse, P., Parent, M. (2013). Real accountability or an illusion of
success?. Action Canada Task Force Report. 1-16
Roessingh, H. (2012). The grade 3 provincial achievement tests: in need of revamping?. Alberta
Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 58, 425-443
Strauss, V. (2014, March 11). 13 ways high-stakes standardized tests hurt students. The
Washington Post. Retrieved from: http://www.thewashingtonpost.com
The Alberta Teachers Association. (2015). Issues related to provincial achievement tests.
Retrieved from: http://www.teachers.ab.ca/Publications/The%20Learning
%20Team/Volume
%2012/Number4/Pages/IssuesrelatedtoProvincialAchievementTests.aspx
Wallace, D. (2000). Results, Results, Results?. Educational Leadership, 57(5), 66-68