Should we or should we not keep standardized testing? Here are some pros and cons of keeping or throwing standardized testing away.
PROS OF KEEPING STANDARDIZED TESTING:
Firstly, standardized testing is a good indicator to see how a child is doing. A standardized test conducted by the US government found that ⅔ of kids in the US were not proficient readers and so the US government began closely monitoring those kids by doing more standardized testing and proficiency rates improved.
Secondly, teacher grading is not reliable. Some people think that a teacher’s grades are sufficient, but grading can be wildly different across schools. There could be an extremely lenient teacher in one school and a strict one in another. Thus, the US government overseeing the school with the strict teacher may change something that they should not and collapse the system.
Thirdly, according to PBS, due to intense testing, South Korean students have a significantly higher college exception rate. Their PISA scores are all significantly higher than the US’s. (PISA is a test to compare countries to one another)
Chart of how South Korea PISA scores compare to the US’s
This isn’t just true for South Korea. Many other countries have higher PISA scores and college acceptance rates with intense standardized testing, like other Asian countries, such as China, Japan, and Russia.
CONS OF KEEPING STANDARDIZED TESTING:
Firstly, poor eighth graders spend 25.3 hours on the hot seat taking standardized tests. According to PBS, students from Finland have only one standardized test required from K-12. Most of this time is spent making the classroom a friendlier, and better experience. In fact, with these accommodations, they rank significantly higher than the United States.
How Finland compares to the US (PISA scores).
After seeing Finland, several other Boards of Education decided to decrease the amount of standardized testing K-12. Now, they are also getting higher scores. Even the USA is getting into it: Oregon recently scaled back standardized tests, according to OPB.
Also, we only get grades to get good jobs. But here’s the catch, to get to the highest tier, you need to have the following: Creativity, Passion, and Problem-Solving Skills. Things that standardized tests don’t measure.
Secondly, standardized tests don’t provide an actual glimpse into student ability. Cultural factors, unfamiliarity with test methods, test anxiety, and illness can wreak havoc on a child’s test score. Even if the child is an excelling student, but comes to the school sick on the day of standardized testing, they may get a bad score. High test scores only just measure how much information a student can cram into their head and their test-taking skills.
Thirdly, standardized tests lead to huge amounts of stress on both teachers and children. Teachers’ jobs and college admission for children are at stake just because of a few hours of intense pressure. The stress can lead to a poor test which can lead to a negative attitude about their abilities or low self-esteem. According to PBS in 2018, students in South Korea, who have to go through intense testing, have higher suicide rates if they did not perform well in these tests. This proves that we should cut the amount of standardized testing in the US.
Also, every third through eighth grader in U.S. public schools now takes standardized tests. In a study of the nation’s largest urban school districts, students took an average of 112 standardized tests between pre-K and grade 12. This annual testing can take time from learning, say many educators, and puts pressure on the least advantaged districts to focus on test prep.
Finally, standardized tests like the SAT only measure wealth, not intelligence. Opponents of the SAT argue that inequity arises because wealthy families have the time and money for test preparation resources and services, which essentially means that a good score can be purchased. Also, SAT prep just doesn’t waste time, but also money. If a student is excellent at everything but does not have the money for SAT prep, they may not get a good score.