Written by Nathan Nguyen
Since the 1800s, standardized testing has been a major part of the American education system. Although standardized testing might have been prevalent for many years, it is not a meaningful measure of progress. It also does not translate into whether students will succeed in the future.
Standardized tests are not meant for student progress because of many factors. An example of this is the effect of stress, hunger, and tiredness, and it only shows how prepared a student is for the test, not how smart they actually are. Additionally, there are no retests for students afterward to see how the students have learned more throughout the year. This leads to the results each year, according to Steve Martinez, EdD, Superintendent of Twin Rivers Unified in California, and Rick Miller, Executive Director of CORE Districts, “...It says much more about the change in who the students are because it is not measuring the growth of the same student from one year to the next” (ProCon.org).
Another major flaw of the standardized testing system is how it does not truly evaluate a student’s knowledge. This is prevalent because there are many factors to a student’s skill set, such as creativity, problem-solving, or critical thinking. However, standardized testing can only test knowledge in subjects such as math or science. Additionally, there is a more accurate measure of knowledge, which is a student’s GPA. GPA stands for grade point average and is statistically shown to be more effective. According to Elaine M. Allensworth, PhD, Lewis-Sebring Director of the University of Chicago Consortium, stated, “GPAs measure a very wide variety of skills and behaviors that are needed for success in college, where students will encounter widely varying content and expectations. In contrast, standardized tests measure only a small set of the skills that students need to succeed in college, and students can prepare for these tests in narrow ways that may not translate into better preparation to succeed in college” (ProCon.org).
An alternative method that would be more suitable than standardized testing would be assessment programs based on student portfolios. This approach has many advantages, such as how students can choose what they want to reflect on and represents what they want to do instead of what the curriculum wants. This method can show how the future of education can be brighter if the education system shifts more towards this method instead of standardized testing, students’ knowledge levels will be more accurate. According to Starr Sackstein, an author that wrote many books about education, she wrote, “If we truly want to know what students know and can do, we should have a universal portfolio system that allows students to gather evidence of learning over time” (edweek.org).
Thus, standardized testing has many flaws, the major one being how it is unmeaningful to the student’s knowledge. The solution to this could be the portfolio assessment system, which is much more accurate to the student’s knowledge.
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