The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

Increase in Standardized Testing Leads to More Redundant Preparation

As the prime season for standardized testing is, high school students begin to submit their applications in hopes of receiving an acceptance letter from a university. Students who aspire to attend college must take at least one test that measures students ability, such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT).  However, the curriculum should be more focused on teaching for the real world, instead of  teaching how to score higher on tests.

There is an increase in methods for preparing for standardized testing because the amount of standardized testing has increased in itself. More hours are being put to use for practicing for the math and English portions of the tests rather than preparing students for life after graduation. These hours are spent learning towards the goal of raising their test scores. A question that has risen is whether or not this could potentially be harming students in the long run.

A new study by the Council of the Great City Schools found that an average student takes 112 mandated standardized tests between pre-school and 12th grade of high school. In comparison to other countries that are closely ranked with the United States in education levels, the number is substantially higher.

In moderation, smart, strategic tests can help us measure our kids’ progress in school, and it can help them learn, but I also hear from parents who, rightly, worry about too much testing, and from teachers who feel so much pressure to teach to a test that it takes the joy out of teaching and learning, both for them and for the students. I want to fix that,” President Obama said.

The keywords are “in moderation,” and only when tests are actually distributed in moderation then will they be more beneficial than harmful. Teachers are forced to be more concerned with teaching to the test than teaching the material for knowledge so the students can learn and experience for themselves at a more custom pace. According to procon.com, standardized testing has not improved student achievement. Before George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind act in 2002, the United States was ranked 18th place in the world in math on the Program for International Student Assessment. After signing that act into law, the United States moved to 31st place in 2009. A similar occurrence happened in the fields of science and English.

There is also a discussion on whether or not standardized testing is narrowing education. With more time being allocated towards preparing for the tests and learning specific methods that aid in scoring higher, less time is being used to teach knowledge necessary for a successful career. A 2007 national study by the Center on Education Policy shows that 44 percent of school districts had reduced the time spent on science and social studies by an average of 145 minutes per week in order to focus more on math and English.

Students are being cheated out of important subjects to focus more specifically on subjects that require that standardized tests are being centered around. It is too soon to tell of the effects this might have on students who have endured this process so far. However, there is nothing good to be said of skimping out on education.

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