Teaching to the Test

Standardized tests have by no means improved student achievement. After NCLB passed in 2002, the US slipped from 18th in the world in math to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in reading. Standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance; they measure only a small portion of what makes education meaningful. "Teaching to the test" is replacing good teaching practices with "drill n' kill" rote learning; instruction time is being consumed by monotonous test preparation. Some schools allocate more than a quarter of the year's instruction to test prep when they should be focused on developing the education of the students. The excessive testing teaches students to be good at taking tests, but does not prepare them for productive adult lives. Standardized tests not only hurt the education of the students, but they also are an imprecise measure of teacher performance, yet they are used to reward and punish teachers. 20. Open-ended questions on standardized tests are often graded by under-paid temporary workers with no educational training. Scorers make $11-$13 per hour and need only a bachelor’s degree, not necessarily related to education. Because the government treats the tests like a joke, not caring who grades them, so do the students. It’s not uncommon to see a pattern or design made out of the many fill-in-bubbles. Standardized testing needs to be gotten rid of, it is nothing but a hindrance in education.