Standardized testing

By Thomas South

One core aspect of the traditional American education system has changed significantly. Standardized testing has become "unstandard."

The first problem is that tests like the SAT are no longer standardized among all American students. 

When the SAT became digitized the test also became adaptive, meaning that as students go through the test, the questions will change to be easier or harder based on previous answers. 

College Board claims this adaptive testing means,  “You’ll be presented with questions tailored for your abilities. You won’t be presented with questions that are much too hard or much too easy”. 

However, this defeats the purpose of a standardized test in the first place. If everyone gets questions the computer thinks they can answer, where is the challenge of the test?

In the past, students taking the test would have a variety of questions, some would be too hard for the average student, but being able to answer harder questions is what would set people apart from the average. 

Throughout the changes, the average score in America has remained roughly the same. The average score has remained within a 75-point range since 1972. This is also the first year of adaptive testing though, so data may change in the future. 

Some people believe that standardized testing is a waste of time in schools, especially state testing often in elementary schools, before the SAT. Some parents have begun ‘opting out’ of their children from standardized testing as a form of protest against these tests. 

This is also a factor in the downfall of standardized testing. All students in public schools used to take the same tests to show the government how well a school is doing. Now with only some students taking tests, the data may be skewed or inaccurate.

One of the reasons parents or students choose to ‘opt-out’ is because of the perceived stress of tests. There should be no stress regarding these tests, especially in elementary schools.

I agree that standardized tests are taken too often, but for this form of protest to work, it needs to be organized on a larger scale. 

Tests can use up valuable instructional time in classes. For example, the NWEA test, which is taken by students nationwide, often takes two full class periods to complete, even at the high school level. This test is also taken three times a year. Even I have to admit this seems like excessive time given for standardized tests in schools. 

They charge roughly 15$ per student per year, to take the exam. Given an estimation of ~1200 students at liberty alone, that costs nearly 20,000$ per year to administer this exam. If these tests are to continue, they should not cost the government.  

These tests are also usually privately owned. For example, the ACT is currently owned by Nexus Capital Management. Or the Nwea test, owned by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a for-profit company. 

In this case, I believe that a compromise is needed. Standardized tests have a valuable place in the educational system, but should be limited or condensed to maximize learning time in classes, and to reduce costs in our school system.