Standardized Testing Does Not Show What We Really Know  

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Matilynn Goerke, Contributor

 

Every person has a different way to show how they learn and comprehend the things they learn. You cannot determine how intelligent or how much a kid has learned just from a big test. Everybody is different when it comes to learning and I think that needs to be better understood by people who come up with these tests.  

Ever since we were in elementary school we have been told that what we are learning is not only preparing us for the next grade level, but for the huge test at the end of the year that everybody has to take. As a fourth grader or even a senior in high school, nobody likes the idea of having to sit around for multiple hours taking a boring test. Being told that however you score on it shows where you are at in those topics is a lot of pressure. We go all year learning a certain unit then taking a test or quiz on it and most kids do fine. Normally if you don’t do good on those tests it’s because you weren’t paying attention in classWhoever creates the standardized tests makes them so thought out and detailed to the point where some kids can’t even think about it anymore. They try to trick us which is basically like setting us up for failure. Personally, I don’t like testing because I lose focus fast and just start answering the questions without even thinking about them because they can be so difficult. If you do bad on standardized tests it shouldn’t be a big dealHonestly, it should mean anything. Some people are bad test takers. They fall under all that pressure and get nervous; I know that’s how I used to be.  

From Pros and Cons of Standardized Tests, testing creates a negative attitude we have towards school. Even some teachers don’t like doing itIf kids find out it’s testing week, they won’t even show up. It can bring kids confidence down so bad, just over a test that really means nothing. And I’m not talking about the SAT or ACT, because you must do good on those to get into college. I’m talking about the benchmarks and the AZ Merits. Taking a benchmark in the beginning of the year makes no sense, they out stuff on the test that we haven’t even learned. I don’t see how that is productive or show how intelligent a student can be if we haven’t even learned it.  

Personally, testing is not a way to measure a student’s knowledge on what they’ve learned. Some kids are way smarter than what the test scores show. I don’t really think people put into consideration that some people aren’t good test takers and that needs to be better known.