The Unintended Consequences of Standardized Testing: Essay Sample

Introduction

Standardized testing has become incorporated into many institutions in America and abroad to test the cognitive skills of participants. It refers to the process of administering tests to various groups under the same conditions of grading and testing to determine the capability of each individual. The widespread application of this technique is in the education system whereby students take tests that grade them and evaluate their eligibility to proceed to the next academic level. Horace Mann can be classified as the pioneer of this system through his introduction of written tests rather than oral exams (Gershon, 2015). Later on, some new tests emerged such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test that tested the mental ability of these students. Other institutions such as the military academy began the use of these tests to tests military applicants on their mental stability (Gershon, 2015; Wiggins, 1991). According to heads of the institutions, these tests allowed them to isolate the best candidates for these jobs. The government has exerted its political influence on the issues of standardized testing through the implementation of various legislatures to cement the decision. For instance, in 1965, the government enacted the Elementary and a Secondary Education Act under the leadership of Lyndon Johnson (Stern, 2007). Moreover, the state of Texas introduced a new system called the Texas Education Accountability System that had similar objectives of ensuring they identify capable students. A recent legislature by the government occurred in 2002 with the establishment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) by Bush (Duckworth, Quinn, & Tsukayama, 2012). However, opponents of these tests have claimed the presence of their unintended consequences as mentioned in this essay.

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Standardized Testing Objectives

Proponents of these systems develop them with the intention of accomplishing various objectives. The first objective is to attain accountability among participants. When participants take these tests, they have the intention of establishing whether different groups such as students, teachers or politicians meet the expected standards (National Research Council, 2001). The second objective is to help in decision-making. For instance, many organizations have different levels that can be attained by an individual once they achieve the required standards. Such tests are important because the number of participants required at a particular post is few in comparison with the applicants. Therefore, it is important to evaluate them to determine the best candidate for the job (National Research Council, 2001). The other obligation of these tests is to determine whether a particular program is beneficial to participants. For instance, once a program is introduced into a society, the only way to determine whether it has some benefits to its users is to carry out tests (National Research Council, 2001). These tests also help carry out a long-term study on the performance of a certain group. These trends enable leaders to formulate a way forward to address any issue that may arise from these studies. Diagnostic tests can be done on participants to evaluate their weaknesses and strengths. Such information will help different leaders develop strategies to assist these participants (National Research Council, 2001).

Unintended Consequences

Reduction in the Time spent on Ordinary Readings

Even with positive impacts, standardized testing also brings about unintended consequences to institutions; take for the case of an educational institution. First, there is a reduction in the time spent on ordinary readings and instructions once the standardized testing took effect. Since time is a limiting factor, it is essential for education instructors to utilize it efficiently to cover all needed platforms. A study done in Hamilton revealed that teachers spent at most 30 hours per week including other physical education programs. Notably, tests took over half of the teaching time every week, which amounted to 4 weeks per term. Statistically stated, teachers used 3 hours of their time to prepare a 1-hour test every time (Smith & Rottenberg, 1991). This revealed that instructors and students have their time significantly reduced once they began undertaking these tests, thus reducing time spent on extra-curriculum activities.

Unexpected Change in Reading Strategies

Another unintended consequence is the change in teaching and reading strategies whereby students and teachers place more efforts on topics asked in the tests rather than focusing on the general knowledge available (Smith & Rottenberg, 1991). This situation was correct except for participants who had true interests in the field they specialized in. for instance, a similar study done in Hamilton revealed that teachers spent most of their time tackling arithmetic and comprehension questions rather than focusing on the general authentic study involving the reading of books and more intrusive and creative reading. This shift was due to a reduction in the time allocated for studying and undertaking the tests by teachers and students (Herman, & Golan, 1993). Students also abandoned their field of interests such as science and took up the culture of reading and memorizing for their future tests. Thus, it is clear of the negative consequences associated with standardized tests (Smith & Rottenberg, 1991).

The Shift from General-Based to Test-Based Studies

These tests lead to a shift in the type of education from general-based to test-based learning as administered by teachers. For instance, administrators of Hamilton school advised their teachers to initiate a new system of learning that prepared students for their future tests by teaching them ways to study and answer these tests rather than teaching the practical concepts of education (Smith & Rottenberg, 1991). In this school, teachers introduced a system whereby students would take a 10-minutes test each day to evaluate their skills in readiness for the exams. In subjects such as mathematics, teachers taught students the best arithmetic to help pass these tests (Kohn, 2000). However, this form of the study did not accurately represent the most authentic way of problem-solving hence impoverished these students every year regarding their intellectual gains (Smith & Rottenberg, 1991).

Misuse of Worker's Professionalism

Another consequence is the misuse of educators' professionalism through the set-out learning standards. Once a teacher graduates, he or she possess the right skills to assist children to gain knowledge of all aspects of a particular field. However, this expectation never meets with reality in these institutions (Settlage & Meadows, 2002). This is because they meet an already set guideline that governs the areas to be taught as per future tests. Moreover, these tests do not adequately show the capability of teachers to their students when based on the performance of their students. The reason is that some students struggle with multiple-choice questions hence may not perform as expected. Such scores are interpreted by school heads as a poor performance for both the students and teachers. Some educators have mentioned that they would rather spend 90% of their time teaching subjects that matter rather than marking and reviewing SAT performances since these tests do not signify the capabilities of the students (Settlage & Meadows, 2002).

Unintended Segregation of Students

Another unintended consequence is the achievements of the school that cause segregation of students. Educators disagree with institutional on the manner in which they group students depending on their performance. For instance, they put more focus on middle-performing students while abandoning the low performers as they do not seem to have any chance of improvement (Settlage & Meadows, 2002).

Inability to Fill in High-Demand Jobs

It is also hard for teachers to fill in vacant positions in the education sector. Although some practitioners state that these Value-Added Methods (VAMS) have a positive implication to the education system, some negative consequences may be experienced (Strauss, 2015). For instance, it is hard to determine whether these methods display even results among all demographics (Strauss, 2015). Therefore, some educators may abandon their original posts and take up new assignments in institutions highly rated to avoid ruining their professional reputations. In a normal school setting, teachers group students together and receive the highest form of education from all professions at a particular level (Cizek, 2001). However, with the introduction of VAMS, many teachers prefer association with their set group of students whose performance is at the peak of the group to grouping the students together for fear of losing their ratings (Strauss, 2015). Sometimes there may arise discrepancies in the results obtained in comparison to the actual observations. Such observations may cause a loss of trust for these evaluations.

High Turnover Rates of Workers

These methods may also lead to dissatisfaction and ultimately turnover for teachers and other workers (Linn, Baker, & Dunbar, 1991; Strauss, 2015). For instance, some managers may use these methods to evaluate which applicants to hire or fire. If such methods fail to meet the actual qualifications of such applicants (Strauss, 2015). Other workers may lose trust in the methods and decide to exit their workplaces for a better working environment. In other situations, some teachers claimed that the seventh-grade situation scored high in their test skills hence disqualifying them from receiving basic needs even though they had inadequate skills (Lomax et al., 1995). Due to the high stakes of these students, some students lose interest and focus on their ultimate goal. No matter the efforts made by the teachers, many students prefer not working hard for these tests for fear of the outcome (Lomax et al., 1995). There was evidence of the high rate of teacher burnout due to pressure by parents and administrators to nurture students with good grades. This pressure causes the teachers to shift from normal education and focus on test-based learning that only aims at helping them produce good grades (Lomax et al., 1995).

Strengths of Standardized Testing

One strength accompanied by the use of standardized testing is the ability of institutions to grade and evaluate students separately depending on their capabilities. In some institutions, this separation can be a way to initiate a more keen focus on individual students rather than a generalization of subjects. Poor performing students receive more focus than excelling students that can carry out their own studies. The other strength of this strategy is that directors can easily select various applicants that best fit their description hence saving time and ensuring that the workers display high-quality work.

Limitations of Standardized Testing

However, some limitations also occur in the use of standardized tests. One of them is that studies have not shown adequately the impact of these tests on the outcome of various participant studies (Duckworth, Quinn, & Tsukayama, 2012). For instance, the high scores obtained by students may not accurately reflect the performance of the student in question. The second limitation is that different factors away from cognitive skills may impact the performance of particular people in a test. For instance, a person may undertake these tests with an unstable state of mind such as stress or nervousness that will impact them negatively (Duckworth, Quinn, & Tsukayama, 2012; Popham, 1999). In addition, factors such as race and family welfare, and income may affect t...