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Lily Gmeiner

Ms.Gardner

English 10 H/ Period 6

9 May 2017

Beyond Filling in the Bubble

The compelling results from a poll done by PDK/Gallup states A majority of

respondents-64%-said too much emphasis was placed on testing (Layton). When asked to vote

about testing in schools, the citizens who voted were not referencing regular tests in school,

instead, they are referring to standardized tests. Standardized tests are becoming more than a

measure of how smart a person is, they are slowly but surely becoming the subjects that teachers

teach. Instead of teaching and then testing, teachers are teaching the test. The issue of

standardized testing continues to impact our society because children and teenagers are no longer

evaluated on their true skills, but on how well they memorize what the government wants them

to know, and how well they follow the steps that the government puts into place. This is

impactful because many students end up stressing more about the tests score than what they are

actually learning in school. The set amount of time that schools are allowed to spend on

preparing for the test is just 2% of school time in the year; however, this is not what was, or is

being practiced. Even though the purpose of standardized tests is to assess a student's knowledge

and what they were taught, these types of tests are very expensive to give, consume valuable

class time (in preparation and test taking time), and do not take into consideration the minority of

students who learn differently than the government expects them too.
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Many people believe that standardized tests are useful because they produce a summary

of how students are doing in school to tell the government which areas of the country need

assistance in teaching; whether it be how the teacher is teaching or whether the

children/teenagers aren't learning well. For instance, Mary Scott Hunter, a member of the

Alabama State Board of Education, claims that standardized tests provide valuable statistics to

ensure that traditionally underserved populations, like impoverished and minority students

receive quality education. It is important to certain communities that they receive the help they

need, making standardized tests useful to some parts of the country. To summarize, many

citizens of the nation support standardized tests for the reason that it gives the government a fair

chance to read the scores throughout the country, and help the schools who need assistance in

different areas. It is true that standardized tests may allow for this to happen, however these tests

often take too much time to take and prepare for, are expensive, and put every student at the

same level.

In the beginning, standardized tests helped the government view the intelligence of the

nation, however these tests are quickly consuming valuable money that could be used in more

effective ways for different parts of schools. If schools cut back on ineffective testing, then they

could save money to improve learning in different and more effective ways. Supporting this,

Valerie Strauss, from the Washington Post, explains that a midwestern district spent $600 or

more for standardized testing per pupil in grades 3-8; about $200 per student for grades k-2; from

$400 to $600 per student for grades 9-11. Strauss goes on to explain that its estimated the

annual cost to test each pupil went from $700 to $1000 for grades 9-11 (Strauss). Evidently,
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schools could be drastically improved with installations of better technology, more healthy food,

different learning programs, etc., if not as much valuable money was spent on tests.

In addition to being expensive, standardized tests were initially served as a helpful

resource to view the nation as a whole, and see to what the students were learning. However,

this reasoning does not recognize the fact that teachers and students are now spending more time

in the classroom preparing for these tests, instead of just taking them. In other words, these tests

consume valuable class time. For example, Richard Serrano from the Tribune Washington

Bureau, expresses that testing should help form instruction, not drive instruction. We need to

get back to focusing on the whole child -- teaching our kids how to build relationships, how to be

resilient and how to think critically. Serrano also explains that the Obama Administration

finally recognized that these tests were taking up too much time and set a limit, that only 2% of

class time could be spent directly preparing for the standardized tests (Serrano). Another school

took a poll and 64% of respondents claimed that testing took too much time inside the classroom

(Layton). In summary, standardized tests are meant to measure the nation as a whole and how

well students were/are doing, however these tests are consuming our class time and students are

no longer, learning, they are being taught the test. Teaching the test diminishes the idea of

learning and focuses students mind on a test score. To conclude, when administrations see that

these tests consume and take up class time, and are no longer serving their correct purpose (to

test, not teach), why dont they try and fix the problem?

Lastly, standardized testing fails to acknowledge the the minority of students who

learn differently or have trouble answering the questions because of the format. These students

may be brilliant in other subjects or activities that these tests fail to recognize. To support this,
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Lindsey Layton, from the Washington Post writes that many Americans also said they think

students should be judged by multiple measures, including student work, written teacher

observations and grades. In addition, many parents believe that having teachers evaluate their

children is the best option, because the teacher can make the test fair to what the children have

learned (Layton). Jeanette Deutermann and Lisa Rudley, public school parents and founders of

New York State Allies for Public Education, claim that when children are overly tested, the love

of learning is demolished, and that standardized tests are factors in this occurrence. (Deutermann

and Rudley). Another fact to support this claim is that a poll was taken at a school and the

majority said that the best way to measure the success of the school was to analyze whether or

not kids were engaged in their classrooms and were looking forward to what is ahead, not by

giving them tests (Layton). Many people also believe that teacher quality is the most effective

way to improve education, and then after that is high academic standard. All of this information

is more than enough to confidently say that parents see the effects of standardized tests, and

gives all the more reason to fix the dilemma. Therefore, the administrative staff and the

government should take into consideration the complaints of the citizens, and open up to new

and more innovative ways of teaching and testing.

Even though standardized testing is said to be a helpful a way of measuring students

knowledge and teachers teaching ability, these government approved tests are very expensive

and using money that could be out somewhere more effective, taking up more class time than

legally allowed, and lastly are not fair representations of every students ability. Standardized

testing is taking the pleasure of learning away from students, and focusing them more towards a

score on their transcript, rather than actually caring about what they are learning. To bring this
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to a close, one question arises. Is using the easier route and continuing to use standardized

testing the better way? Or would it benefit the many young, and fresh minded children and

teens, to find a new and innovative way of testing what they have learned. Because we all have

greater talent than filling in a bubble.

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Citations

Deutermann, Jeanette, and Lisa Rudley. "Tests Decimate Love of Learning." USA

TODAY, 20 Aug, 2015, pp. A.7, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Hunter, Mary S. "Tests are a Part of our Lives." Montgomery Advertiser, 05 Mar, 2017,

pp. E.4, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Layton, Lyndsey. "Testing Isn't the Right Focus for Schools, Poll Indicates." Washington

Post, 24 Aug, 2015, pp. A.3, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Serrano, Richard A. "New Proposal by Obama Calls for Scaling Back of Standardized.."

McClatchy Washington DC News Bureau, 24 Oct, 2015, SIRS Issues Researcher,

https://sks.sirs.com.

Strauss, Valerie. How Much Time Do School Districts Spend on Standardized Testing?

This Much. The Washington Post, WP Company, 25 July 2013,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/07/25/how-much-time-do-school-district

s-spend-on-standardized-testing-this-much/?utm_term=.d0a8d5bf52c2. Accessed 4 May 2017.