Standardized Testing In Public Schools

Standardized Testing

“64 percent of Americans (and 67 percent of public school parents) say there is “too much emphasis on testing (Walker).” Standardized testing assess how well schools are teaching the content that a state believe is necessary knowledge. Schools place so much emphasis on scoring well on state tests because the state governments began “specifying goals, measuring outputs to ascertain whether the government was spending money wisely, and holding educators and students accountable for their performance.” This idea has continued to be used, even though it has been refined (Firestone). The emphasis can cause issues in students, teachers, and school districts.

Students are strongly affected by state testing. Teachers make

students study specific topics for weeks on end to prepare themselves for this testing. However, as the test come nearer, students begin cramming subjects during the school day to refresh or learning more major information for the testing. Teaching methods also very from teacher to teacher while approaching a specific topic with students.
The article The Ambiguity of Teaching to the Test: Standards, Assessment, and Educational Reform displays a way in which two teachers using a certain method of teaching math. One teacher, Ms. Jones, shows her students how to multiply by hand and using the ones digits to eliminate certain answers, however another teacher may not have their students eliminate answers but instead just do the entire multiplication by hand then look at the possible answers. Another teacher, Ms. Smith, teaches her students how to calculate the mean and the range using M&M candies whereas another teacher may just use a list of numbers to calculate the mean and range. This variation in teaching methods may not correlate with the methods needed for standardized testing. As a result, if the method that a student has not been taught is need to solve a test question the student may retaliate against learning or using a certain method after the test because it wasn’t “helpful” and may in turn cause roadblocks in learning in the future. The same article states, “With so many states testing children in different ways, with different consequences for passing and failing those tests, it is important to understand (a) how teachers respond to different kinds of tests, (b) how other state education policies affect those responses, and (c) what local educators do to ensure that tests will improve instruction, not deaden it.” The authors, William Firestone and Roberta Schorr performed a three-year study, the results showed both the help and harm caused by testing (Firestone).
Teachers are also affected by standardized testing.

Similar to that of students, when their teaching methods do not match those that are needed for the students to test, teachers begin to struggle. The teachers are held the most accountable for the students’ performances. Multiple aspects contribute to a teacher’s ability to teach students the information they need for testing. Some of these aspects are: “accountability pressure, teacher attention to testing in instructional planning and delivery, time spent on test preparation, teachers' sense of professional pride, and general attitudes teachers hold about the fairness and utility of testing (Herman).”

Teachers may be evaluated based on the test scores their students receive. This would be a good way to assess a teacher’s capabilities, but unfortunately some students that have had educational setbacks may not care about the test or result, therefore causing a flaw. This causes more stress in the minds of teacher because they continue trying to make students enjoy learning, in order for the teacher to not only benefit but also the students to

benefit.
Lastly, school districts are also affected by testing.

School districts are controlled by testing because it is how they get their funding. The article The Conflict Over Standardized Testing Is a Consequence of Government-Run Schools made a statement that displays this control, “If parents had full financial control of their children's education, they would judge for themselves the methods and policies of a given school; and if they disapproved of some aspect of a school (whether its testing procedures or anything else), they would be free to work out the issue directly with the school—or, if they deemed it necessary, move their child elsewhere.” However, this is not the case. Instead, schools are government-run and are required to do state testing and score well to obtain their funding. As a result school districts put extra emphasis on standardized testing to ensure they get their needed funding

(Laferrara).
“64 percent of Americans (and 67 percent of public school parents) say there is “too much emphasis on testing (Walker).” All of these factors are affected by standardized testing and their emphasis. This emphasis has had a continued effect on multiple aspects including: students, teachers, and schools districts. Standardized testing assesses how well schools are teaching the content that a state believe is necessary knowledge. Is there another way to assess how schools are teaching without negatively affecting many factors?