I feel that it is extremely common among educators and students to revile standardized testing. I am here to say the tests are fine actually. Whether it is a reading test given to elementary kids or the SAT, they do a pretty good job on a large scale.
Are there exceptions? Sure there are, some smart people do just okay on the SAT for example. In general though these tests are indicative of what they attempt to measure. It is probably annoying as an educator to feel encumbered by these tests, but benchmarks are required to keep our education system accountable.
Admittedly I am a pretty good test taker, so my bias is out there. Some of the louder criticism of standardized testing is that they correlate highly with economic status. While I recognize this, basically every other academic measure is also correlated with economic status. Getting a PhD is highly correlated with wealth and we are not getting rid of those anytime soon.
My research expertise is not in education. If any of you are educational researchers or school teachers please correct me.
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I’ve had this opinion and I didn’t always do spectacularly on standardised tests.
The problem isn’t just the tests themselves (although there are valid arguments against them), it’s the impact they have on other areas. A lot of teachers are forced to teach to the test rather than teach skills and information that students will need later in life. There’s a lot of information that a standardized test can’t measure but is important in everyday life.
The only reason I agree with them is because it’s the only really… purely objective way to test people that isnt also 5 months of exams. It could definitely be improved on but… yeah standardized tests are by far the best way to do it. I would hate to be screwed over because a teacher didnt like me but someone I was better than ngot higher because they were a teacher’s pet.
As a professor I have heard hundreds of hours of debate on this topic for entry for graduate students into my program. Despite all the yapping never one step closer to a consensus.
They’re a tool like anything else. They can be abused or misused. Or they can be perfectly fine for the role they fill.
Most educators aren’t against all standardized tests. They’re frustrated by the hyperfocus on them
Example:
I teach in a high school. In May we had two weeks of AP testing, two days of state-mandated esting, two days of testing that the school opted for, and we’ll have two more days of state-mandated testing next week.
Then students take finals.
It’s a bit much.
Having standardized testing is not bad. Making all of education about those standardized tests is bad.
Great take
Billionaire test maker enters the chat.
What you are saying isn’t controversial.
I’ll say something controversial: most teachers who dislike standardized tests are just bad teachers and don’t want to be exposed for their bad teaching when their students fail the standardized tests, while a few teachers simply have inflated opinions of their own teaching and think that only their tests can measure student progress and everyone else’s tests suck.
I’m sorry but if there is a school where the standardized test scores are so low, it should rightfully be dissolved by the state, and I wouldn’t blame any parent who would want their child to be able to go to a different school.
Tbh I dislike them. I just hated having to take them lol. My mom managed to keep me out of a lot of them and not have any issues with it (idk how) the only one I took was the SAT and I got something like a 1300. Which is odd because I was doing both HS and college classes at the same time, and had 4.0 GPAs in both. So I guess I’m the outlier you were talking about.