People in the Dark: The World of Standardized Testing
By Darby Graff
In every single sector of education, economics matters. They matter in the resources, opportunities, and classes that are offered at any school. Schools with a bigger budget are able to afford their students with more experiences that leave their classes better off. Going to a college prep-school can set you up with more college connections, standardized test preparation, and more one on one time with teachers. This is why it comes as no shock that when Think Impact did a report on scholarship statistics they found that 10% of private school students are awarded scholarships, while only 3% of public school students win scholarships. Scholarships can be earned through various different achievements, 25% of scholarships require testing scores, and each year the number is decreasing. This is good. Standardized testing requirements are an arbitrary way to measure student success because the preparation some receive is unfair to the majority of students left in the dark.
The preparation gap between students has always been an issue when regarding education. Fortunately, colleges and universities are recognizing this gap and closing it by avoiding testing requirements. They are moving forward from such a uniform way of measurement. However, Oklahoma is staying in the past. Our new state superintendent, Ryan Walters, has announced his new proposal in a recent conference, “The proposal calls for a school district to receive a deficiency if at least half of its students score at a below-basic level in language arts or math on state assessments.”
If any school in Oklahoma has below average scores, their school will be threatened with a downgrade in their accreditation. Reporters raised concerns that the proposal would affect the state’s urban districts and those with an increasing number of students who need special education. These are valid and accurate concerns that Walters was quick to dismiss.
The “deficiency” Walters is referring to has to do with the Accreditation process. Accreditation is the process by which a school goes through to be authorized and recognized by the state. It means that a school has upheld minimal standards so they are permitted to give students diplomas. High accreditation is valuable because it can mean more funding, recognition, and enrollment.
By forcing schools from lower income areas to succumb to the unrealistic pressure of standardized testing, Walters isn’t giving students or these schools a chance to succeed, he is setting them up for failure. According to employees at Opportunity Insights, “One-third of the children of the very richest families scored a 1300 or higher on the SAT, while less than 5 percent of middle-class students did.” It’s no secret that income affects how well kids do on tests. When your mind is worried about how your going to eat, paying attention to fractions doesn’t seem that important. If it's a known fact that testing isn’t fair to all classes, then why is our own state superintendent so adamant on making testing more important to the Oklahoma schooling system?
Standardized testing helps public schools because it gives them more opportunities for funding. Walters is enforcing a new rule that if your testing scores are above average you will receive more money in your school budget. However, testing does more than just help a school's account balance. The exact reason Walters is beginning this push for testing is to advocate for the kids that go to schools where their students are consistently testing below grade level. If testing is how we have been able to measure their lack of success, why are we using testing as a way to help measure their improvements?
The majority of low testing schools have a higher percentage of students who need free lunches than higher testing schools, meaning that the majority of low testing students struggle economically. This is a common pattern seen in education.
Economics matters a lot, but so does preparation. Private schools offer ACT and SAT preparation classes. These classes consist of familiarizing students with the material on standardized tests and preparing them for the required time limit when taking the exams. This means constantly retaking tests over and over again until you have mastered it as best as you can. The teachers administering these classes have to be certified by all various exam organizations before they even think about teaching a prep class. Each ACT certification course costs $300- $400. This is not something that public schools can even think to opt for when we don’t even spend that much on chromebooks.
Public schools have a separate more cost effective approach to standardized testing preparation. At Jenks, specifically teachers, are just expected to teach kids the regular curriculum with hopes that it will overlap with what will be on the “big” tests . There is no test practice. There are no tips or tricks that advance your abilities. These kinds of benefits can be found at private schools where the majority of students excel on their test taking.
Above average test scores means more school options, scholarship money, and school recognition. Think Impact claims that “over 66% of students with above average SAT and ACT scores receive private scholarships.” According to the ACT exam, the ACT test “provides information about a student's educational needs, extracurricular achievements, and educational plans.” ACT scores are appealing because they are seen as a baseline to colleges. You can compare a kid in Tennessee’s 4.0 GPA to a kid in Oklahoma’s 4.0 GPA, but there's no telling what each kid was taught or actually learned. The ACT can be given to both students and whichever one scored higher is deemed the more administrable student by colleges. This seems like an understandable standard. Through the ACT you can see which student “knows more.”
This is really not the case though, standardized testing is standard–it’s a one size fit’s all situation. Education measurements shouldn’t be one size fits all when education is supposed to cater to multiple learning processes. For as long as I’ve been going to school teachers will ask you about the ways you learn best in the beginning of the year. Whether it’s visual, verbal, or tactile, teachers try their best to meet their students' needs. If this is how education is set up, why are we participating every year in something that doesn’t align with the teacher's personal practices. There is another more personalizable route to be considered. This is a performance based assessment.
Performance based assessment is a type of testing that doesn’t involve little bubbles or No. 2 pencils. It’s a broader kind of assessment that “Supports students’ higher-order thinking skills, helps improve teachers’ instructional practices, and can ultimately allow students to demonstrate college and career readiness through a culminating assessment.” PBA consists of presentations, essays, conducting research, or even curating a portfolio of your proudest pieces of work. These projects can actually demonstrate a student's knowledge and preparedness for real world tasks. A group of cognitive psychologists did a study trying to figure out what the best way for students to learn is. What they ultimately found was that “To know something is not just to passively receive information, but to interpret it and incorporate it; meaningful learning is reflective, constructive and self-regulated.” Learning shouldn’t be bubbles and No. 2 pencils (Educational Psychologists). It should be presentations and portfolios that help demonstrate the knowledge you learned in a creative and personable way. With PBA there are no trick questions or ridiculous time limits. It’s at your pace and you don’t have to be scared of it tricking you. It’s also something that every teacher can teach and incorporate into their classrooms.
The difference between public and private schools is different in almost every aspect and it’s not mindblowing that private schools have a greater advantage over public schools. There is always going to be unlevel playing fields, especially in education, but standardized testing makes the field not just unlevel, but more like a sinkhole. This is why incorporating a more universal way of assessment is so important. Performance Based Assessment helps demonstrate to teachers and students what needs to be taught and what's already learned. It’s more abstract than standardized tests, but it’s overall more beneficial and fair.
