Standardized Testing: Restrict or Expand

1. Standardized Testing: Restrict or Expand By: Erin McManus Holy Family University

2. Should the use of standardized school tests be increased or decreased?

3. History of Standardized Testing • Socrates tested his students through dialogue and conversation. • Emphasis on the path to higher knowledge rather than producing a correct response • 19th Century Horace Mann urged the use of standardized essay testing in the United States. • By 1845, many schools were testing spelling, geography and math.

4. History of Standardized Testing Continued… • 20th Century • 1914 the first multiple choice test was created • The launch of Sputnik by the Soviets in 1957, the steady decrease in SAT scores between 1963 and the mid seventies, and the publication of “A Nation at Risk” in 1983 led to a sense of urgency by government officials to improve the educational standards currently in place. • 2002 No Child Left Behind Law was passed, which require all public schools to test children of certain grade levels.

5. Position 1: For Restricting Testing • Tests are biased and “reflect the language, culture, or learning styles of middle-to upper-class whites. Thus scores on these tests are as much measures of race or ethnicity and income as they are measures of achievement, ability, or skill” (Neill and Medina, 1989, p. 691).

6. Position 1: For Restricting Testing • Teachers spend more time teaching to the test. Especially teacher of minority and low income students due to their poor performance on standardized tests. • Test prep programs or “coaching” gives children of a higher socioeconomic status an unfair advantage. • Bias against women • Despite the fact that men score higher on SATs, women generally have higher GPAs than first year male students. • This testing bias results in fewer scholarships and honors program admission for women.

7. Position 1: For Restricting Testing • What Should Be Done? • Academic achievement should not be based on a single test score. • Some students do not test well • Assessment should focus on the individual student and what they have produced/accomplished. • Portfolio including quantitative and qualitative samples • Papers, essays, drawings, projects, and tests

8. Position 2: For Expanding Testing • Standardized testing drives curriculum and the art of teaching. • Allows educators to determine if a specific program is working • Taxpayers can see the effects of the curriculum bought with their tax dollars. • Standardized testing promotes fairness. • Students of the same age/grade are taking the same test under the same conditions • Standardized tests are a more valid and reliable form of assessment • A student’s grade not only reflects their achievement, but also the grading climate of the school/teacher (tough v. easy graders). Standardized tests have the same meaning to everyone. • Standardized testing is an economical way to assess students.

9. Essential Questions • Should learning support and ESL students reading 1-2 levels below grade level be held to the same standards as regular ed students? Why or why not? • How do standardized tests help improve curriculum? • Should standardized tests be taken out of schools? Why or why not?