Why Standardized Tests Are NOT Working

Since the creation of the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers nation-wide have been pigeon holed into a strict curriculum dictated by the state. This leaves little room for teachers to teach things that are important but not necessarily tested. Teachers who believe standardized tests are adequate assessments for their students are few and far between, and there are numerous reasons why teachers feel this way. One of the most prominent reasons that standardized tests aren't working? It's the tale of at-risk students versus everyone else.

Standardized tests have specific standards and objectives expected to be achieved by every single student in a particular state at each grade level. Here's where the problem comes in: at-risk students are at a great disadvantage. Students attending well-funded schools from middle to high class families score well on the tests; students attending low-income, ill-equipped schools from low class or even homeless families do not score well on the tests. It's as simple and as difficult as that. Yet these students, with very different backgrounds and learning abilities, are being expected to learn the exact same things. Most of the at-risk students do not even have the basic skills needed of them at each grade level, and they certainly have not mastered them. But the state does not take this into consideration. Instead, at-risk students are expected to score just as well as other students in much better conditions...which they don't. They don't do well on their tests, their schools lose funding, their teachers get in trouble, and eventually their schools get closed down. This is happening all over the nation. Instead of schools who need state funding the most to improve their conditions, they are losing money due to their students inability to do well on state-mandated tests. Right here in Ohio, nearly 50 percent of students from families with incomes below $20,000 failed standardized tests. Compare that to 80 percent of students with family incomes of over $30,000 who passed the tests. It doesn't take a genius to notice these patterns.

Higher test scores do not mean more learning. In fact, it actually means quite the opposite. Teachers spend all of their time prepping their students for what they are told will be on the tests. Students may be experts on 2 and 4 point written responses, how to interpret a graph to answer multiple choice questions, or how to complete 60 math questions in 60 minutes, but they know almost nothing about music, art, foreign languages, or black history. And just because a student doesn't score particularly well on a standardized test doesn't mean he or she doesn't know the material. I for one can vouch for that. Give me a standardized test full of multiple choice questions and I will get a measly score, but have me write an essay on the same topic and I would score off the charts. It's all about how students learn. Different students learn differently, but there is no room for that in standardized tests.

Standardized testing has been a debate for a long time and will continue to be as long as tests such as the Ohio Achievement Test and Ohio Graduation Test dictate the curriculum and school systems. Every form of assessment has its flaws, but when standardized tests are so blatantly hurting specific students and their schools, it is time to take a step back and figure out what to do differently so every student can succeed and so truly no child is left behind.