Calling for Change

Resistant to standardized testing is happening all over the country with parents, students, teachers and supporters of the movement calling for massive reforms. One Washington Post article has a list of reasons why it’s time to change the standardized test format. Among the reasons are those that create a divide among students based on their class and race.

Upper Manhattan Parents Leading Effort to Opt Kids Out of State Testing

It’s no secret that students who come from affluent families have more resources to their advantage and therefore it is who has more money that succeeds on these tests. Even measuring intelligence is trickier because of the varying ways students learn and the fact that many students taking these tests speak English as a second language. Teachers are forced to teach the material on the test leaving students with great memorization skills and actual knowledge to use later in life.

Some students are better equipped to take the exams than others and not necessarily because of how hard they study but by factors out of their control like finances.

 

Then there’s a matter of what students lose because so much funding has to go into standardized testing. Cuts to the arts and even sports programs are being made, extracurricular activities in general, meant to foster students learning and passions are being lost in favor of more testing expenses. Students are found crying, vomiting and the like because of stress and have no outlet to take this stress out on.   Those in favor of standardized testing have to know all these abuses and frankly, the scores we get from testing do not outweigh the suffering it causes. It’s time to start testing in ways that foster learning. It’s time to test in a way that doesn’t favor the rich; it’s time to start testing in a way that isn’t really testing at all but rather project based.

One possible alternative is “authentic” or “performance” testing. This is a testing which is structured around “doing” rather than “bubbling.” The fact is students aren’t going to build a career on filling in circles, they will be doing various actions in their field. Authentic/performance based testing is described as an assessment that “asks students to demonstrate their learning by making a product or by doing a task, performance, or exhibition to show what they know and can do.” This is a type of testing I can get behind because 1) it’s not about stressing a student, it’s allowing them to use what they’ve learn to create in a way that makes sense to them and 2) it’s not really “Testing” in a conventional sense, it’s more about the students than the scores and answers.

If we want our children to have good futures, we need to stop ruining the present for them and allow them to kids. Childhood shouldn’t be about fear and failure, futures shouldn’t be determined by how well a teacher can teach to the test. The nation is calling for change, the question now is will those in power listen?

Resistance to Standardized Testing Growing Nationwide

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/25/resistance-to-standardized-testing-growing-nationwide/

www.pencilsdown.org

Parents, students, teachers and activists across the nation are not only questioning the need for standardized testing but are also outright fighting back against!

The article provides a great list of links showing just how much the nation is coming to hate this form of measuring a kid’s intelligence.

Race to Nowhere Theatrical Trailer (Original)

“Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.

Race to Nowhere is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens.”

This is a trailer for a fantastic documentary about the immense stress students today face from a very heavy workload and standardized testing.

None of the Above – Why Standardized Testing Fails: Bob Sternberg at TEDxOStateU

“Oklahoma State University Provost Bob Sternberg developed his first intelligence test in seventh grade and since then has become one of the top 100 psychologists of the 20th century. His talk discusses the faults in standardized testing and the new needs of today’s generation.”

Standardized Testing: The Problem with America’s Education System

This is an interesting look at the effects standardized testing has on students.

Sarai Colon

My name is Sarai Colon; I’m a Communications major at the University Maryland and I’m against standardized testing.

A bulk of my time in school was focused on learning what material would be on the test that would determine whether or not we were smart enough to move up. There was a lot of pressure to do well; by the time I got to high school, the norm for students was pressure. I saw students with the highest grades crying over test scores. The norm was wearing expressions of defeat and going without sleep for days. No one believed school should be fun, it call came down to the tests that supposedly determined our worth.

Everyone talked about getting high scores on the HSAs, and the crown jewel, the SATs. If you got a low score people would give you sympathetic looks because the chances of getting into a good college or getting money to go there, would drop significantly. It didn’t matter if you weren’t a good  test taker or a brilliant writer or a creative thinker; standardized testing was all about knowing how to take the test.

It’s time we stop determining a child’s future with a test and start giving them opportunities to shine, and encouraging their potential. Kids need to know they’re not stupid and hopeless if they don’t do well on a test. We have to lift our students up not bring them down.