Real Talk
What is a teacher’s favorite time of year? Well, it’s not spring–standardized testing time. We can all agree that testing season is the absolute worst.
What makes testing time so detestable? For starters, there’s the super stressful Pentagon-level security surrounding testing. When you think about it, the fact that phrases like “test security” even exist in education is a joke. After all, we are talking about a child’s knowledge of fractions and verb tenses–not world domination. So, it would be great if we could dial back all the cloak-and-dagger stuff.
It’s also frustrating that these tests are treated like the pinnacle of the school year–the culmination of all our hard work and devotion–when in reality their ability to assess student learning is limited, and there’s little proof that these tests improve achievement.
However, the biggest problem with high-stakes tests is that the emphasis placed on them throughout the year, combined with the time it takes to prepare for and take these tests, actually inhibits some meaningful learning.
These are just some of the skills that get sidelined by testing.
1. Handwriting
Most teachers will tell you that our students’ handwriting is atrocious. Assignments handed in by kids in middle school and high school look like they were written by second-graders. This is because in many schools, penmanship is not a graded subject, and little emphasis is placed on handwriting or handwritten work. In addition, students do much of their work on computers. True, it is easier to grade a Google Doc than a handwritten assignment. However, allowing students (especially young children) to work primarily on computers ignores the link between handwriting and reading and handwriting and learning.
So why does an education system that continually claims to use research-based practices ignore the science behind writing by hand? Because tests don’t include handwriting and because students can write faster and edit more easily (although not necessarily more accurately) when working on a computer. Schools don’t make handwriting and handwritten work a priority, not because they aren’t important, but because they aren’t tested.
2. Spelling and grammar
These skills are included in testing, but in a multiple-choice format–not in the context of the students’ own writing. So when it comes to teaching editing skills, many teachers feel the need to emphasize style over mechanics since that’s what will count on the test. Kids learn grammar and spelling rules, but often they aren’t developing the habit of using them consistently.
3. Speaking and listening skills
Speaking and listening skills are usually included in state standards. However, teachers know that if they want good test scores, they have to focus on the tested standards. This can mean that students miss out on valuable lessons in communication that might not help them on the test but are invaluable for their future success.
4. Executive functioning skills
Skills like problem-solving, time management, self-control, flexibility, and attention to detail can be helpful when taking a test, but they are not just test-taking skills. Unfortunately, that is often what they are reduced to. In a world of computer-generated entertainment and instant gratification, more and more kids come to school without basic executive functioning skills. Yes, teachers do their best to teach and reinforce good habits. But the compulsion to focus instruction on tested skills means teachers don’t always have time for crucial life lessons.
5. Love of reading and learning
In the same way that teachers don’t always have time for life lessons, they also have to cut out some enrichment activities and other fun things to make time for the all-important test prep. A recent article in The Atlantic explores the decline in reading and love for reading among children. While it’s easy to blame screens (and they are definitely part of the problem), the author argues that an over-emphasis on analytical or close reading (a tested skill) is a contributing factor.
Students today rarely enjoy a classroom read-aloud just for the joy of the story. Everything they read is in the service of some other skill like explaining the theme (by citing textual evidence) or tracking character development (by citing textual evidence.) Often they don’t even get the satisfaction of reading a whole novel–only excerpts to be analyzed. This joyless, test-centered approach to literature causes kids to see reading, not as a pleasurable escape or an exciting adventure, but as a chore.
6. Necessary resources
The United States spends 1.7 billion dollars a year on testing. Imagine what would happen if the government spent even a portion of that money on improving education rather than just assessing it.
For years, teachers have been calling into question the value of high-stakes testing. Yet year after year, teachers must set aside valuable learning to focus primarily on tested skills. This forces us to give up days of instruction time for intense review and stressful testing. And yet teachers are the ones who see firsthand the limitations of these tests and who know best the needs and abilities of our students. Don’t you think we would have a voice in determining what kids learn and how to assess them?
But as long as testing companies and their lobbyists are the driving force in American education, profits will always come before what’s best for our children.
