Question, after question, after question. Your head begins to loll and sitting up is becoming a strenuous task. You want nothing more than to be done with the mindless clicking through a seemingly never-ending test.
Standardized tests are constructed by experts and published for use in many different schools and classrooms, according to study.com. Specifically, they are designed to measure the knowledge and skills students learn in school to determine the skill and performance of the students — along with the effectiveness of the school’s curriculum.
Standardized tests are not only an inaccurate measure of the performance of students but also the quality of school.
Though tests are meant to measure the performance of students, it’s not always accurate. To me and some of my friends, state assessments are viewed as insignificant and can be blown off — mainly because the test doesn’t count for a grade.
Another problem of standardized tests are the accuracy and participation of the tests — or lack thereof. Many students treat the test as a joke and don’t put forth their fullest effort into the test. I’ve even had friends who intentionally compete for the lowest score. With students not putting forth their best effort on the test, it’s impossible to properly gauge their performance.
These tests are also subject to cultural bias. According to the International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, the tests are centered around norms and values of majority groups, which can put minority groups at a disadvantage.
The way a question is worded would appeal to the cultural norms and values of the majority, but some minorities could interpret it differently based on their experiences. For an example, there could be a math word question about a situation that is foreign to minority groups.
Right now, we are getting to the end of the school year, and grades are my top priority. Since we’ve already had 5 snow days, most classes are already behind — to further interrupt lessons with assessments is the last thing we need. Now we are taking the Kansas State Assessment which takes three or more class periods to complete. Throughout high school, each student is required to take multiple tests, adding up to 25 hours of testing by graduation.
With how much time students spend on the test, students endure heavy mental strain. According to a study performed by Harvard graduate Christina Simpson, the health effects of standardized testing might include headaches, sleep problems, depression and more volatile behavior.
Going through school can be stressful and anxious enough, so students shouldn’t have to take standardized tests. There have been some states such as Nevada and New Hampshire that have offered an opt out for the test, and none of them had funding cuts due to lack of participation. If you offer an opt out, you also remove the outliers — the kids who don’t want to try on the test — and make your sample group more accurate. If kids don’t want to test, they shouldn’t have to.