Standardized Tests

 

Every time I tell someone that I think public education would be improved by having fewer standardized tests and fewer federally mandated "standards," they are horrified. "How would you measure progress? Where's the accountability?"

There are few clearer cut instances of less = more. I was a kid when they first introduced the idea of standardized tests. Has education improved dramatically over the last 30 years? That is clearly not the case.

Remember the famous judge's response to defining obscenity, that he couldn't give you a dictionary definition, but "I know it when I see it"? For generations, education functioned the same way. You knew it was working, or not, by interacting with the students or the adults they became. I've known very bright, accomplished kids in honors trigonometry classes who can't make change. How many people do you know who struggle to calculate a tip, or divide a dinner tab? A friend of mine was horrified by watching two teens in a store try to figure out how much something that was 80% off cost. Finally, she interrupted their conversation to say, "It means it costs $2 for every $10 on the original price! If it was $100, now it's $20." One teen responded, "Wow. I'm in honors calculus, and I didn't even know you could do that."

Some kids blow off the tests because they aren't graded, some admit to randomly filling in bubbles because they're bored, some have test anxiety. Yet I routinely hear that everything, including teacher salaries, should be tied to these tests, to performance on a single occasion.

Last year, the students in my friend's daughter's third grade class were offered an ice cream party if they raised their test scores by at least a grade level. The bigger difference, the more toppings you earned for your ice cream.

At the beginning of the year, his daughter scored at seventh grade level, four years above her age. At the end of the year, she scored at an eighth grade level. She earned ice cream, but no toppings, because she'd "only" increased her score by one year. Her father confronted her teachers, but they stood their ground. The only answer they gave when he asked, "Did you teach her 7^th or 8^th grade material? How was she supposed to score at a higher level if you didn't teach her the material?" was, "She should be very proud of her scores." Chocolate syrup and sprinkles count for more than "proud" does when you're in 3^rd grade.

Then there's what the tests can't measure. Take, for instance, my daughter:

In elementary school, if she was given an assignment to read about Johnny visiting his grandparents on their farm and then asked, "Where did Johnny go?" she was likely to answer, "Swimming." At first glance, that kind of answer makes it seem that she was hopelessly lost. Ask her to explain, however, and you were likely to get an extensive answer. "Well, it says that Johnny went to their farm and he helped feed all the animals and pick the corn, and after he did that I think he'd be hot and tired, and it said that there was a pond for the ducks, so I think Johnny went swimming in the duck pond because he was hot and tired." Obviously, this is a child who not only understood the material, but has taken her understanding farther than necessary. Still, the answer "swimming" will be marked wrong on any standardized test – indeed, on virtually any assignment.