Perhaps the most alarming consequence of standardized testing is the idea of “teaching to the test” where educators focus on students passing the tests rather than ensuring a quality education. This approach to education can leave significant deficiencies in a child’s knowledge and performance later on in life. For example, in the state of Maryland the only subjects tested on the Maryland School Assessment (MSA), given to children in grades 3 through 8, are math, reading and science. This automatically resigns the other subjects such as history, art and physical education, all essential to a child’s growth and development, to a secondary priority status. According the Maryland Association for Health, Physical Education Recreation and Dance, not one jurisdiction in Maryland meets the minimum recommended 150 minutes of physical education per week for elementary school students. With the growing obesity epidemic facing America’s children, this statistic is extremely alarming.
The high stakes associated with standardized test scores can also effect an educator’s teaching style and classroom priorities. Standardized test scores are used to determine funding for a school, evaluate teachers’ performance and decide whether to promote a student to the next grade. A teacher may choose to emphasize the basic skills found on standardized testing while neglecting the promotion of high-level analysis skills. “Teaching to the test” also tends to lend more to memorization than application of critical skills.
What can you do?
As citizens, we have a duty to ensure the next generation of Americans are independent thinkers prepared to take on the challenges of a rapidly changing world. Below are several steps you can take today to ensure a better education for tomorrow.
- Ask questions
- Look at your local district and see if they are cutting arts, physical education and history classes. American for the Arts has a great questionnaire to get you started
2. Get Involved
- Join a local or national organization committed to improving education. One example is the National Association for Family and Community Education, find a local charter near you or join their national organization at
https://www.nafce.org/home-overview.html
3. Tell Others
- Share what you have learned with your family, friends and other members of your community. Let us know what you’re community is doing to stem the harmful effects by posting on our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/dmad14blogproject) or sending us a tweet @dmad14blog
Ultimately, teaching to the test hinders a child’s ability to receive a quality education and people should follow the aforementioned steps in order to combat teaching to the test and guarantee children a quality education.
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