Well, let me see...

What's the problem with standardized testing if the teachers have to teach the subjects that are being tested anyway? Good question. Let me get right down to answering it:

1) The standards are not uniform across the nation as each state, school district ,and (in some cases) individual schools have different standards. There is not really "a standard" for students to live up to. There are several and they cover a very wide spectrum.

2) The standards that do exist are rarely set by educators. Look at the professional demographic of your local school board. How many are/were educators? If it's anything like the communities I've lived in, not many. Look at who is formulating the curriculum; not educators, but the very companies that provide the stadardized tests to the schools! These companies have a monopoly on our children's education. Most of these companies develop and provide the curriculum, testing supplies and they even grade the tests! (For a great discussion regarding the privatization of the education system, see Mike's blog on the right sidebar.) No Child Left Behind was not written by educators; it was written by policy-wonks in Washington. Educators have been pushed out of the business side of education by lobbyists and the almighty $$$$!!

3) Standardized tests only cover certain subjects, particularly math, language arts and science. Thousands of students graduate each year without the basic knowledge of how our government works and basic geography (as civics and government classes are often dropped to allow more concentrated and remedial classes that cover the testing subject matter). These students don't know the basic functioning of the same system that seems to "know" what standards students should be assessed by.

4) No child can be assessed through a Scan-tron test. Children are not drones for teachers to fill with facts, like walking encyclopedias. They are artistic and musical. They love to sing and dance. They need enrichment and guidance. When standardized testing begins to replace artistic freedom for children, (as teaching to the test eats up more and more classroom instruction time, money is mismanaged, and art, music, band and choir are down-sized) our nation has taken a terribly wrong turn.

5) Assessment should include standardized testing, as a small portion of the total assessment. Students should be assessed on their progress throughout the school year. If, for example, a student enters 3rd grade at a 1st grade reading level and is reading at a 2.5 grade level at the end of the year, that's progress. (Now, I know this is a simplistic example, but I think you get the point.) Yet, depending on how well this same student fared on the standardized test, he/she may be labeled a failure and sent back down to remedial instruction. Student's should be assessed based on their portfolio of work--writing, comprehension, math, science, social studies and history skills--all of it laid out for teachers to determine where more instruction is needed. Standardized testing should be used to give teachers some guidance to their students overall progress, but only when used in conjunction with whole-student consideration.

I will leave the discussion here, for now, with my "Top 5"...

From Someone Who Is In The Trenches

One thing I really wanted to highlight on this blog was the experience and viewpoint of someone who is in the classroom everyday. No, not my 9 year-old, but a teacher. I have had the opportunity to pick the brain of a 5th grade teacher who is currently working at a Southern California elementary school. She has been teaching for 18 years and has taught 2nd, 4th and 5th grades. We corresponded via e-mail.

"I always knew I wanted to teach. I attended a private school until the age of 7 and then transferred to a public school. I loved it! The teachers were fun, we went on field trips, and yet, I was still able to learn what I needed to learn. I went to college back east and returned to California in 1990. I started teaching in the fall of 1991 in a 2nd grade classroom. It was the most stressful, difficult thing I had ever done. I remeber thinking to myself, "What have I done?" But, after awhile, I had more confidence in my skills as a teacher and I think the students responded to that."

"Over the course of the next decade, I moved from 2nd to 4th to 5th grade, where I've been for the last 4 years. 5th grade is challenging, but I really enjoy it. Within my time at different schools within 2 different school districts, I have noticed an exponential increase in testing. The amount of testing that I am doing with my students is overwhelming. I want to do everything I can to ensure my students' success. So, over my summer break, I try to find new ways to incorporate the testing curriculum into my lesson plans--I want to teach the things that I believe my students need, and still hold to my own teaching style. I want feel that rush of creativity that I felt when I first started teaching. Sometimes, I succeed. Lately, it seems I'm not."

"When it comes right down to it, I see 5 major problems in standardized testing (I am presenting very general examples for your readers so I don't get too long!):

1) I have to test my students on subject matter that I have yet to teach them.

--Because of the testing schedule that is mandated by the federal and state governements and the local school district, I have to keep to a particular curriculum schedule. However, with some of the testing, there is a discrepency between the range of subject matter that is covered within each test. On one test my students may need to know basic math skills (division, fractions, etc.), but on another test they may need to know some geometry. So, although I try, I am forced to watch my students test on things that I haven't had time to teach them.

2) I often receive the results to my student's tests when it's too late to adjust the curriculum.

--Depending on the test that I have given, there have been times when I have received my student's results weeks (or months) after we've moved beyond that portion of other areas of the curriculum. Now, depending on the subject area, I may have to revisit that portion, or simply decide to keep moving toward the next test--while leaving the results unattended.

3) I am held accountable for my student's test results while I am not provided with the tools and resources to give them every opportunity to raise their test scores.

--The standards that school districts, administrtors and teachers are held to are not kept in line with the resources provided to the individual classroom. I am alotted a certain number of copies per month for my classroom--but it is only about 40% of what I actually need. I have 34 students in my classroom and I am given only 30 math books.

4) Testing does not take into account English Language Learners.
--I have ELL students who do not perform well on the standardized tests. They may "fail" each and every test given. However, when presented with their overall progress from throughout the year, they have made extraordinary improvement. Standardized tests will mark them as failing students when they are not because their overall progress is not reflected in the standardized testing matrix.

5) I am "teaching to the test".

--I have heard this phrase for several years. I realized 3 years ago that I am that teacher-I base my year's curriculum on when my students take each test and what subject area they will be tested on, not what they need to be secure in to move on to the next stage in their lives (although many will say that they testiing and the student's needs are one-in-the-same, I disagree)."

"I hope that what I have provided will be of some help to [the readers of your blog] in realizing the insurmountable situation that teachers are in each and every day."

A little background to bring everyone up to speed...

Many of the comments posted in response to my first post are spot-on; it is up to teachers, parents, elected officials, students and society-as-a-whole to educate our children. It up to those of us who disagree to make our voices heard. But, so as to try and facilitate a discussion regarding testing, I think I need provide some background for those who may need it, regarding how all this testing got started.

At the core of any discussions regarding standardized testing is NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB). I thought this would be an appropriate time to provide a summary of NCLB, brought to you with the help of the United States Department of Education (with works cited at the end of this post):

NCLB is a reauthorization (in terms of an amendment) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1965. One prime function of the ESEA was to allocate federal funds to schools for use in implementing programs to improve the academic achievement of children in lower socioeconomic standing. Yet, the money from the government came with criteria regarding the assessment of the programs to ensure their effectiveness (Us Dept. of Educ., Intro).

(Over time, standards-based assessment became more acceptable to some educators as a "reliable" means of assessing student progress; although there has always been a descending opinion regarding its fairness and accuracy.)

In 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law NCLB, touting it as a sweeping reform of the national education system. NCLB is, according to the US Department of Education, "built on four common-sense pillars: accountability for results; an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research; expanded parental options; and expanded local control and flexibility" (US Dept. of Educ., Intro). Of course the flexibility and accountability are offered within certain guidelines.

This is a summary of the parameters within which school districts must work to ensure they remain in good standing (i.e., receive funding, resources, etc.) with the Federal Government:

Beginning with the 2005-2006 school year, NCLB mandated that all 50 states assess every child's progress, each year between the grades of 3 and 8, and once between the 10th and 12th grades, in both reading and math. Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, states are also required to provide assessments in science at least once during the 3rd thru 5th grades; 6th thru 9th grades; and 10th thru 12th grades (US Dept. of Educ., Testing).

Meanwhile, these same students are also being tested in mathematics and reading/ language arts in accordance with the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 (the previous reauthorizing of the ESEA) in which states are required to develop or adopt standards in math and reading/language arts; NCLB required the same be done for science by 2006). The testing schedule for these standards are broken down into three grading periods; testing must
be completed once in grades 3 thru 5; 6 thru 9 and 10 thru 12 (US Dept. of Educ., Testing).

Now, in the midst of all this testing, NCLB also called upon school districts, beginning in the 2002-2003 school year, “to administer tests of English proficiency--to measure oral language, reading and writing skills in English--to all limited English proficient students” (US Dept. of Educ., Testing).

And further still, "Students may still undergo state assessments in other subject areas (i.e., history, geography and writing skills), if and when the state requires it” (US Dept. of Educ., Testing).

As far as further tests are concerned, there may also be testing that is mandated by individual districts to more closely assess student progress.

My opinions regarding NCLB, as a whole, will have to be archived for a different blog; for this blog, I will focus on the "common-sense pillar" of "accountability for results". Although, the fact that the other pillars mentioned above have a tremendous impact on schools cannot be entirely ignored; especially because they are contingent on the outcomes of standardized testing. For now, I will let what I have presented simmer for a bit….

I will finish this post with this: I acknowledge that there must be a standard—and a high one, at that. I firmly believe that if a child has a high standard placed in front of him or her, he or she will reach it…but (and this is where it gets dicey) only with the appropriate resources and support. And this, I believe, is where standardized testing is taking over the classroom—the standards are so high, and yet, the resources (yes, money, but also time, energy, textbooks, smaller classroom sizes, etc…) are not anywhere to be found. The standards are not the problem, it’s the system in which the standards are being quantified that is destroying the notion of an “equal education”. Standardized testing has its place in the education of our children—but certainly not at the forefront.



US Department of Education. Introduction: No Child Left Behind. 19 Jan 2005. 5 March 2009. http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/index.html.


US Department of Education. Testing Accountability Frequently Asked Questions. 17 Nov 2004. 5 March 2009. http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/ayp/testing-faq.html#4.

Why am I here?

This may sound like the question of the ages, but let's not get too philosophical. I'm not asking why are we all here on this planet, in this country, state, etc. I am asking why am I, a future high school English teacher, here on Blogger, talking about standardized testing in American schools. Well, stated bluntly, because I have seen standardized tests as the bain of teachers, administrators and school districts around the country for quite some time. Schools waste time, money and energy on test upon test upon test, while students become increasingly adept at how to take tests, not how to think critically, problem solve and engage each other in rational conversations.

I am also here because I am a parent. My daughter is nine years-old and in the fourth grade at an elementary school in Southern California. She has not opened her social studies book this year--not once. She has, however, taken the STAR and TOPS tests and a few other tests that somehow survive without the mandatory acronyms attached to them. She does not know the capital of the state nor country in which she lives. Now, before you start hollering, "Well, the schools are not here to teach YOUR child everything while you sit by and watch!", trust me, I get it. I am not expecting the schools to teach her everything she needs to know, yet, her father and I should be able to work WITH her teachers in furthering her education, not homeschooling her on the subjects that her over-worked, stressed-out, teaching-to-the-test-focused teacher cannot find the time to cover.

That being said, I hope to hear from those who may feel the same way I do--and from those who do not. It is only through rational, constructive debate that we can further the discussions regarding education, and standardized testing in particular, on this forum, and begin to enlighten, enrich and educate students--not label them with the numbers from a score on a test.