2015 READING TWO

How Standardized Tests Shape—and Limit –Student Learning

Article Summary:  This article looks at the negative effects on student learning through standardized testing. It says that although these tests are not in themselves high-stakes tests, they are used as such. The article focuses on the limitations, especially in ELA, that these tests embody. It is difficult to measure true ELA outcomes because this type of test mostly focuses on reading comprehension and writing as multiple choice items. The article also states that subjects such as foreign language, music, art, and social sciences are left out of these types of tests and that hey focus mostly on computational skill. These tests are also hard for teachers as they must gear their teaching toward mastery of standardized test and not other important tasks. This type of test is being  used to shape the curriculum and the types of learning that go on in the classroom and teachers are losing valuable teaching time. The end of the article does give some solutions to using these standardized tests as such a high stakes test by allowing multiple formative and summative tests and using these tests along with other tests, not just as an end-all type of assessment for teachers and students alike.

Interpretation:  I think this article gives a good glimpse of the limitations set by standardized tests for all involved. I know that in my own experience with taking tests like the SAT, GRE, PRAXIS, etc. that they are not true measures of a person’s skill. I am not a great test-taker and my test anxiety pretty much takes over as soon as I sit down in the test room. I think that the best advice given in this article is to use standardized tests ALONG WITH other types of tests. I remember that a portion of the GRE was to write an essay which would then be scored by some sort of panel of experts. I am, by no means, a great writer, but I am not a poor writer either. It is difficult, though, to be given a topic and a time limit to shape a good and effective essay without the time to revise and re-revise your text. I think writing is a process and not a product as soon as it hits the paper. A student should be allowed the time to collect their thoughts and not just vomit words onto paper in their 45-minute allotted time slot, that’s just messy no matter how you take it. It is also concerning that we are teaching toward reading comprehension and not toward a greater understanding in literacy. If teachers are to prepare students for higher education, we are doing them no favors by teaching solely to comprehension. Higher education is all about critical thinking, unpacking meaning, and every other new-fangled buzzword that relates to extracting the hidden agendas inside of a text. We want to create feeling, thinking, compassionate beings, not just tiny yes-men. I will never agree with or understand the concept of trying to fit 100 different individuals into the same-sized box. If we are all created differently, how can we be judged by an invariably standard test? Nonsense!