Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education/Chapter 10 Supplemental Materials/Chapter 10 Wildcard 2

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The Double Edged Sword- Standards and Standardized Tests

                     By: Sharon Foglesong

Schools have always been the focal point of criticism,all we hear is America’s students are falling further behind. It is for this reason there is growing pressure to “fix” the nation’s schools, this has led to a standards-based education. Standards-based education specifies precisely what students should learn, focuses the curriculum and measures academic progress by standardized tests. Is this the best move for America’s schools? Does it focus on learning or test taking? Are we just trying to get better test results, or trying to better educate our youth?

In 1998 President Bush initiated the standards movement when he convened a “National Educational Summit” (Sadker & Zittleman, 2005). The summit produced Education 2000 (modified as “Goals 2000” under the Bill Clinton administration). This is a list of worthy, yet unrealistically optimistic goals. Then in the 1990s, they focused on development of standards by many professional organizations. By 2000, the standards movement yielded high results so George W. Bush took it national by passing the “No Child Left Behind” law (Sadker & Zittleman, 2005).

With everything, there are pros and cons, and this is especially true with standards and standardized tests. There are some good things that come with standards. Spelled out standards gives teachers and schools guidance and focus in their curriculum. They ensure that all students receive the same education and unifies schools. Standards hold teachers accountable for what they are teaching. The data from standardized tests are essential for improvement. This data reflects how the students, teachers, and schools are performing showing their weak and strong areas.

While this is all good, standards also impose limits. Sometimes there seems to be more negatives when it comes to this subject. Standards pressure teachers on the incredible amount they have to teach, and leave less time for creative projects in the classroom. The standards are too specific and they promote a specific teaching style (drill and practice). There have been ideas of making the standards as general as possible, but that isn’t very useful (Sadker & Zittleman, 2005). There are important things that won’t be tested, so students miss out on these things. With multiple choice formats on the standardized tests, there is no room to reveal the students' capabilities or problem solving skills. Another drawback with standards and testing is that it sorts and ranks. The standards don’t take into consideration that it may be pushing knowledge on students prematurely, or that lack of resources could affect scores. At risk students are placed at greater risk to fail when held to the high stakes testing and has resulted in lower graduation rates (Christensen, 1999). Another pitfall in the use of standardized testing is that errors can be made in test pamphlets and grading.

I believe learning should not be measured by a single test. There is an over emphasis on achievement and results. There are advantages to the standards and testing, but we have a lot of improving to do. With a look at the positives and negatives of standards and standardized tests, is there an alternative? We know that parent’s and community members have the right to know how well their children are learning. Unfortunately, they fall into the trap of believing that high test scores means that their students are learning, when actually the scores reveal how well their children can memorize and take tests. John Bonfadini, professor of educational research at George Mason University conducted a survey of 800 parents in northern Virginia. He found widespread dissatisfaction with the state’s Standards of Learning exams. Seventy percent of the polled respondents agree that they don’t trust test (Ohanian, 1999). The SOL's are more politically than educationally motivated. Sixty-five percent agreed that, “Teachers spend too much time teaching to the test rather than teaching other important materials and topics” (Ohanian, 1999). All the parents surveyed had children in the public schools and most of them had at least one child who had taken SOL exams. These test results were reported in The Washington Post on June 27, 2000 (Ohanian, 1999).

How can we create a replacement for testing that will inform parents and community members about how well the school is doing and whether their children are learning what they need to know? How do we create an alternative way to keep accountability in education? Two alternatives that are being used are portfolio-based assessment and performance exams. Portfolio-based assessment is an approach being used by teachers, where they gather and record a collection of the students work throughout the year to show the student’s progress and achievements in various subjects such as English or Science (Peterson & Neill, 1999). Then the teacher records a score based on the work. Then by random sampling, a number of the records and students portfolios are selected randomly from each classroom. A group of independent teacher’s community members review the records and portfolios. If there is a big different between the conclusion of the independent graders and the classroom teacher a third group might be called in or a larger sample might be taken from the classroom in order to determine how well a particular teacher consistently applies the assessment guidelines (Peterson & Neill, 1999).

Another form of testing is performance exams. These are tests given to all students and are based on students performing a certain task, such as writing an essay, and are then judged independently and anonymously by teachers from the district using a scale of one to four (Peterson & Neill, 1999). Some districts also use these performance exams as a way to check how well classroom teachers are scoring their students. These performance exams have the advantage over standardized tests in that they drive the curriculum in a relatively progressive way. Teachers who help write the performance assessment task learn a lot about how to develop more interesting and academically valuable projects for their students.

Adopting these alternatives isn’t easy. Old ways of doing things are always more comfortable and familiar. Most alternatives take time to develop. Most are implemented while existing standardized tests continue, and teachers are being asked to do more assessing but are not given any more time to do so. We need to remember the primary purpose of assessment is to improve the quality of teaching and to help students learn better. If the focus is not on student learning, it’s misplaced. There is no easy answer to standards. There is less time for certain types of creative group’s activities but increased interest in professional collaboration. The standards are a double edge sword.

REFERENCES

Peterson, B., Neill, M. (1999). Alternatives to Standardized Tests. Rethinking Schools, Vol. 13 (3), 96-101.

Sadker, D., Zittleman, K. ( 2005). The Standards Movement. Teachers, Schools, and Society (pgs 363-377). Boston: McGraw Hill.

Ohanian, Susan (1999). One Size Fits Few. Californication (pgs 54-57). Portsmith, NH: Hienemann.

Kohn, Alfe (2001). Beware of the Standards, Not Just the Tests. Education Week, Vol. 21 (Issue 4), p52.

Christensen, L (1999). “High Stakes” Harm. Rethinking Schools, Vol. 13 (3), p 48-51.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The second President Bush brought the standards movement to a head with which piece of legislation? a. Goals 2000 b. National Educational Summit c. No Child Left Behind d. A Nation at Risk

2.   What is another type of assessment that involves the teacher rating a collection of the student’s work over time?

a. Performance based assessment b. Portfolio based assessment. c. Unit Tests d. Essay Exams

3. Positives of the standards and the standardized testing include all but the following: a. holds teachers accountable b. provides the same education for all children c. provides relevant data to show areas of strengths and weaknesses d. limits the material the teacher can teach

4. Standards-based education specifies which of the following? a. the student’s curriculum b. alternative lessons c. resources needed d. time allowances

5. What does the data of the test results actually show? a. what the student learns b. ethnicity representation c. student’s ability to memorize and take tests d. the ability to problem-solve

Essay Question:

With the large arguments against standards and standardized testing, what are some possible compromises to make things better?

Answers:

1. c 2. b 3. d 4. a 5. c