Standardized testing. We hear this phrase everywhere these days: newspapers, TV, websites and people’s discussions. This controversial topic permeates many layers of the public education system, and is also a popular political theme. There are many questions about standardized testing: Should it be required? How much is too much? What are the positive and negative effects of state-mandated testing? Because of its time-consuming nature, the importance placed on it and the stress it places on students, excessive federal-, state-, or district-mandated testing should be re-evaluated and reduced.
Standardized testing is highly time consuming. I know this firsthand, as I am a local eighth grade student. In the 2014-15 school year, each student at my school was required to take the CMAS, PARCC and NWEA tests. Overall, each student spent about 14 hours on state-mandated testing, spread over several weeks. At our school, we do not take the district-mandated testing, which would have added more than 16 hours of extra test time. The average eighth-grader in Durango School District 9-R spends about 31 hours on state and district testing. This does not include time spent preparing for the tests. In ninth grade, it jumps to more than 41 hours, and by 12th grade, testing time exceeds 48 hours.
With all this time spent on standardized testing, most school districts place a high importance on test results. This means that the teachers are responsible for preparing their students for the tests. Oftentimes, a teacher’s paycheck or bonus is related to his or her class’ test scores, and the school’s funding levels and rankings may also be affected by the outcome of assessments. One result of such emphasis placed on standardized test scores is an increase in cheating. In some cases, it’s not the students who are cheating: it’s the teachers. In April, 11 teachers from Atlanta were convicted of racketeering because they were changing students’ answers on standardized tests. In this case, the teachers felt intensely pressured by goals that the school and district had set for the students. A few of the main instigators received jail time. The pressure from standardized testing was so intense that it caused several teachers to become convicted felons.
Unfortunately, the emphasis placed on testing is also taking its toll on those required to take the tests. Some students become so stressed out from the pressure of testing that a variety of unhealthy reactions occur. According to brainconnection.com, some common signs of stress include irregular eating habits, tiredness, unsteady sleeping patterns, increased infections and inability to concentrate. Vomiting also occurs from the stress of the tests. Official test instruction manuals now include directions on what to do if a student vomits on the test booklet. As John Oliver said on “Last Week Tonight,” “Something is wrong with our system when we just assume a certain number of students will vomit.” It is horrendous to think that young children are having such enormous amounts of stress placed on them that they become physically ill. If students are continually forced to take such exhausting tests, what will the long-term consequences be for their motivation and success in the adult world?
A common argument supporting standardized testing is that it provides teachers with guidelines on what the students still need to learn and what they know. This is accurate in some cases. For example, if students take an assessment at the beginning of the year, it can help teachers plan the curriculum for the year. Testing at the end of the year can also be beneficial to measure progress from the year. However, all of the tests taken in between the beginning and end of the year are really the problem. Those are the unnecessary assessments that cause extreme stress in students and use up enormous amounts of valuable instruction time. Additionally, students may not have learned the content on these tests yet because they are administered during the school year.
In the end, there are many arguments to make in favor of or against standardized testing. Many aspects of the tests must be considered; however, one must come to the conclusion that the cons greatly outweigh the pros of standardized testing. The amount of time it takes, the unscrupulous actions that may occur and the extreme amounts of stress that are placed on the students must provoke the realization that superfluous standardized testing is having a negative effect on our children. The volume of tests must be reduced in order to save time and benefit the overall well-being of our students.
Alma Wolf is an eighth-grade student in Ed Whritner’s humanities class at Mountain Middle School. She was the winner of a class opinion-writing contest. Read other entries at http://mms8thgradeeditorials.blogspot.com/. Alma’s parents are Jon and Janet Wolf.
