Most standardized tests’ objective is scoring, scoring being something a well programmed machine does. Subjective people, people who are experts on the various subject matters on the tests make all the uses of exam results. They decide what topics to include on the test, how questions are worded, which answers are marked correct. The wording of the questions can be made extremely complicated with attempts to throw students off with “distractor” questions and the like, all to prove they really know the answer to the question. Students taking standardized tests answer the same questions –usually in multiple-choice format- and are rewarded for answering quick answers to superficial questions. The standardized tests do not measure the ability to think deeply or creatively in any field, but rather measures test-taking abilities. A research study done by Carol Tittle, Kathy Kelly Benjamin, and Joanne Sacks of the City University of New York has revealed that the very educators of these students do not believe in the value of these tests, “even teachers do not find standardized achievement tests score to be useful.” The tests usually do not provide teachers with “diagnostic information that helps redirect their teaching”. If teachers do not find these tests helpful, how can they be realiable?
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” – Albert Einstein
A 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution found that 50 to 80% of year-over-year test score improvements were temporary and “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning,” which means that the standardization of tests is not a reliable source of measuring student performance. The use of standardized tests in schools, and at such young ages creates a very tense atmosphere for students when they do not perform well. Students then struggle to understand what they are being tested on, and why they perform poorly, when the wording of the tests clearly confuses them. As consequence of stress and underperformance, teachers are blamed for the situation, and consequently force students into studying more and more.
In other words, standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance, and therefore are not a great way to assess student’s understanding of the topics. Students gain knowledge by connecting what they are learning to what they have already learned in the past. However standardized tests makers create questions so that students are tested by bits of information, and this differs with their learning style. We should not be measuring the intelligence of our students by tests that those who know best, the very teachers of these students, find to be unreliable. Our students, our children, shouldn’t be reduced to statistics or scores created by people who have never even met them.
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