Some Thoughts on Standardized Testing

Post date: Mar 31, 2013 11:48:30 PM

I have been receiving many questions concerning my thoughts on standardized testing.

Historically, we have been using standardized testing to measure our students since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and all we have to show for it nationally is increasingly poor performance vs. our peer nations, notably with the U.S.A. falling to 31st place in math on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Despite ballooning expenditures on standardized testing, the results persist.

One can only conclude that tests are not the answer – or perhaps, that they answer the wrong questions.

We tend to ask "what is on the test?" or "will our students do well on the test?" – but we should be asking "what is NOT on the test?".

What are we not teaching, solely because it won't be tested? What about concepts which are not measurable in this way – like collaboration skills, creativity, and other higher-order thinking skills? And what are we teaching our kids about the relative value of rote knowledge vs. the ability to think for themselves? Are we robbing them of their opportunity to become Einstein, Da Vinci, Curie, Shakespeare, Bach, or Picasso – and turning them into the human equivalent of circus animals trained to jump through hoops, regurgitating existing knowledge, with no ability to evaluate new data, discover new concepts or create new breakthroughs?

In my opinion we must find ways to de-emphasize standardized testing and get the focus where it belongs – on fostering habits of thought in our children which will enable them to excel. We must provide factual knowledge and conceptual understanding – but these are just the ground floor of the building. They should be the foundation upon which teachers support students in building the higher order skills of analysis, evaluation and creativity – so that they can become the next generation of visionaries, leaders, and discoverers.

References:

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/

http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12521

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-myths-of-standardized-testing/2011/04/14/AFNxTggD_blog.html