Essay Sample on Standardized Testing in K-12 Education

Introduction

The K-12 education system in the United States has continued to expand and grow over the course of the development of the country. During the early development process of the American education system, there was more emphasis on ensuring that students have equal access to formal education through schooling. However, the recent years have been accompanied by a shift in the accountability measures with the focus changing from opportunities to join or access universities to universal competence (Styron J. & Styron R. 2012). This has resulted in more attention to the use of resources and standardized testing as a primary form of assessing learning. The high stakes surrounding such testing have caused educators around the United States to adopt some personal beliefs and teaching strategies that aim at compensating for such assessment practices such as the practice that is known as teaching to the test.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Standardized testing involves the administration of a test that is stored in a standard or consistent manner. The tests are designed in such a manner that the questions, scoring procedures, conditions for administration, and interpretation are consistent and are stored in a standard and predetermined manner (Styron J. & Styron R. 2012). Moreover, the test takers are graded equally. The K-12 education system involves education from kindergarten to 12th grade. This involves children ranging from around age five (school starting age) to age 18. There have been various controversies regarding the viability of standardized testing in this type of school system in the United States.

Reasons Why Standardized Testing Is Detrimental to Students

They Have a Limited Scope of Learning

What a student knows matters far less than what he/she can do with what they know. Knowledge is available all over including internet-connected devices. However, the tests focus on content knowledge and are easily standardized which ultimately disadvantages the students ("National Council of Teachers of English," 2014. The tests narrow the entire curriculum causing some subjects to be squeezed such as art, music, foreign languages, and social studies in the elementary grades because they are not included in the tests. This is detrimental to minority students or those from low-economic backgrounds since they are denied the opportunity to turn to arts, where they may perform their best due to their prevailing conditions. This limits the student's learning since they tend to focus solely on the cognitive dimensions while ignoring other qualities that are vital for their success at school and later in life.

The Score Is Not a True Representation of the Student

The standard testing system can be equated to an assembly line model that places all the kids in a one-fits-all education model and labels the low-scoring students as failures (deBOER, 2015). This may have a negative impact, especially in scenarios where the low-scoring students are in the minority classes or in a low-economic status. Students are humans and are already wired like one. Therefore, comparing them when the basis for comparison is designed to view others at a disadvantage would only make the situation worse. Standardization ensures consistency in measurements and establishes a nasty byproduct in the process which resembles a distorted self-image. The students who perform in the test increase their self-esteem and self-worth while those who perform poorly experience low self-esteem and self-worth. This negatively affects students from low-income backgrounds since they are at a higher risk of performing poorly due to psychological stressors and inaccessibility to educational resources such as books among others. It considerably contributes to higher dropout rates in states that encourage graduation tests.

It Ignores the Individual Student

Standardized tests are mainly administered, scored, and interpreted in a standardized manner. In this case, they tend to ignore the differences that exist in a student's background and learning style which may be fundamental to the underrepresented or low-income backgrounds. They judge all the students based on the same set of criteria. While this may be vital for efficiency in grading, it does not entail any individual variations in the learning style and backgrounds and teaches students to follow guidelines more than they should think outside the box. In the process, more time is spent preparing for the test and learning test-taking skills other than broadening the student's knowledge base. In such a case, the student from minority groups or low economic status is likely to be judged based on academic performance, where they perform dismally with no regard on other areas where they may be highly skilled.

Solutions and Alternatives to Standardized Testing

Some of the alternatives to standardized testing include the following:

Sampling

This method involves the selection of a group of students that statistically represents a whole group of student population rather than testing an entire student population on a yearly basis. This alternative may not ultimately eliminate the traditional standardized tests but may reduce its impact on the teachers, students, and the states. Some of the resources that may be reduced include the time spent annually taking standardized tests (approximately 20-25 hours annually) and funds spent on assessments (approximately 1.7 billion).

Stealth or Game-Based Assessments

This method involves the use of software that enables students to practice what they have been taught or learned. The use of the software helps to eliminate the cost, time, and anxiety that is associated with the 'stop and test' concept linked to normal standardized testing while collecting data on the student's data knowledge over a semester (Shute & Ventura, 2013). The method is an appropriate alternative as it enables the student to show the skills that have been mastered at the given moment, which provides insights into a student's diligence and speed of learning.

Multiple Measures

This involves the use of emotional and social skill surveys, portfolio or performance-based assessments, and game-based assessments. The social and emotional skill surveys would provide an overview of both teachers and students on the social and emotional factors and apply the results in guiding the student's internal decision-making processes ("Michiganradio.org," 2015). Game-based assessments involve the use of games that are designed to test processes such as systems thinking and the ability to take on feedback measures that could not be addressed by traditional tests. Portfolio-based assessments include the use of projects, individual and group presentations, papers and reports, and portfolios of work that have been collected over a period of time.

These are sample alternatives for standardized testing which include inspections, frequent, online, and low-stakes testing, adaptive testing, and on-demand assessments among others. They are more reliable as they measure a student's progress without relying on standardized tests.

Conclusion

To conclude, learning environments and standardized tests that are designed for average students are not ideal tools of measurements. It is therefore vital for developers to fight against the use of standardized test scores and encourage the application of exclusive measures of student performance. It is clear that the current model does not fit parents, teachers, and students, hence the need for a better and performance-based alternative.

References

deBOER, F. (2015). Standardized assessments of college learning. Files.eric.ed.gov. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED570892.pdf

"Michiganradio.org," (2015). What are the alternatives to standardized testing? Michiganradio.org. Retrieved from https://www.michiganradio.org/post/what-are-alternatives-standardized-testing

"National Council of Teachers of English," (2014). How standardized tests shape and limit student learning. Ncte.org. Retrieved from https://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CC/0242-nov2014/CC0242PolicyStandardized.pdf

Shute, V. and Ventura, M. (2013). Stealth assessment: Measuring and supporting learning in video games. Myweb.fsu.edu. Retrieved from http://myweb.fsu.edu/vshute/pdf/Stealth_Assessment.pdf

Styron, J. and Styron, R. (2012). Teaching to the test: A controversial issue in quantitative measurement. Iiisci.org. Retrieved from http://www.iiisci.org/journal/CV$/sci/pdfs/HEA561DK.pdf