TESTS: Standardized tests are necessary to grade students on an equal level.
By Amy Wang, Staff Writer
The sun is coming out of hiding. The flowers are blooming. The days are growing longer. It’s that time of the year: springtime. And with spring comes warm weather, flip-flops and answer booklets, because springtime is also testing time. Standardized tests are being administered across the nation to schools, but as students sit down to take tests, parents are standing up to voice their objections.
With the federal government focusing more on standardized tests, parents are becoming frustrated with the tolls it takes on the students. Schools send home practice tests and drill their students weekly in order to prepare them for the nationwide tests. The stakes are high for both students and teachers who are graded according to the results. More and more parents are choosing to opt out of the standardized tests completely.
But without the tests, how can students be graded on an equal level nationwide? Without a standard test, the only way to gauge schools’ performances is according to their own tests. Schools and teachers that do not meet standards need to be pinpointed so that the education system can be improved in critical areas. However, schools should not feel so threatened by the government’s tests that they resort to constantly drilling the material instead of actual teaching it.
Supporters of disposing of standardized tests use the excuse that standardized testing “causes stress to students.” But do parents expect the removal of standardized tests to change this? Regular tests exist outside of standardized testing. Students who decide to move onto a college education will still have to take tests; starting in middle school, tests become a normal part of the curriculum. The test-taking skills taught by schools are not “useless” unless a student has no interest in moving past elementary school. Many students would even argue that standardized tests are the least stressful part of high school.
Schools do not have to teach specifically to the standardized tests, because students should be learning the material year-round as a part of the regular curriculum. It is understandable if parents protest against schools who teach towards the test, but lashing out against the concept of standardized testing itself is picking the wrong battle.
Standardized tests are necessary in order to check students’ standings on a broader level. They provide a quick way for the government to gauge schools’ success and grade the nation’s ranking in education. Without them, the government would have to create an alternative way to assess all the schools’ progress, which may take even more resources, time and money – three things we cannot afford to spare right now.