In researching my concentration of our inquiry question, How much of what students are learning in school today applies to everyday life skills for future success?, I have found endless literature voicing opinions both pro and con toward the subject of standardized testing. In recent years, there has been great emphasis on assessment and accountability put on by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and “teaching to the test”. This has affected schools, administrators, parents, and especially educators, their curriculum and teaching styles and the students.
I have been exploring how the education that students receive, especially in low performing schools in urban areas is being affected by standardized testing. The most difficult part of this research so far, has been sorting through the endless literature that has been written on this subject and finding the “legitimate” and also the view that compliments our group’s vision of standardized testing as not being the only means of assessment for successful real life application. From my research, I have found assessment to be both an attempt at a valuable solution, yet still part of a growing problem. Student’s culture, race, and socio-economic class have much influence over a student’s performance, learning abilities/styles, and level of knowledge and these differences are not accounted for in standardized testing. Standardized tests are creating a standard of only one correct answer, therefore transforming the information being tested into a rote memorization task rather than a measure of true or deep understanding. In addition, the idea of only one right answer is not beneficial to students as they gain entrance into the real world. In most cases, there are more than one correct answer to a certain problem and the ability that these students today are being robbed of is the creative thinking “thinking outside of the box” that allows for creation of other valuable alternatives to whatever the situation at hand is. Real life application of what is being taught in school and how to use that knowledge needs to be clearer in assessment. These tests do not leave room for the critical thinking and reasoning behind the answer chosen and that process is line between knowing if the student truly understands the content being asked or presented.
Skills such as reasoning and critical thinking are necessary skills towards lifelong learning and are considered life skills. In fact, the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) has put forth and renewed in the year 2000, standards associated on what “Work Requires of Schools” ; the skills necessary to succeed in the work place, further education and as a successful member of society. They are skills that are important in nearly every facet of life. There is a three-part foundation and a set of five competencies that include skills such as: reading, writing, mathematical reasoning, listening, speaking, creative thinking, problem solving, organizing, knowing how to learn, reasoning, responsibility, collaboration, technology, self-esteem, sociability, self management and honesty.
Due to the pressure of NCLB, many educators in schools labeled low performing, based on standardized test scores only, by not meeting their Annual Yearly Percentage (AYP) are changing their curriculum and teaching style to cater to the raising of test scores. Sadly, the students are the one’s who are caught in the middle, not getting the education they could be, from the educator’s who are truly passionate about their subject matter and make an effort to reach all of their student’s different needs; in many cases the educators are going against their very nature by “teaching to the test”, The test then loses it’s legitimacy. It no longer becomes an attempt to assess what the student’s know, but how good their test taking skills are, by knowing the test format, using process of elimination and pure memorization. An assessment is a measure of what has been learned and this idea of “teaching to the test” contradicts that.
Standardized tests aren’t all around negative. But used as the only means of assessment on the state level, they are bias and not a true measure of knowledge. Some districts are incorporating other means of assessment into their processes. Assessments such as performance assessment and portfolio assessment used in conjunction with standardized tests allow for student’s who don’t perform well to shine in the way that they learn best. This idea of more than one standard for the vastly different areas and student’s being assessed, makes more sense and adds the application of life skills into the mix; a happy medium, for now.
Assessment and accountability have been discussed since the late 1960’s in America. The fact is, the world and its population are constantly changing and to accommodate that change there has to be leeway within our schools as to how assessment is achieved. Students will be faced with dilemma’s we cannot predict at this time and it is our responsibility as educators to prepare them for the ever changing, rapidly growing world.
