OP-ED: Standardized Tests set an unnecessary standard

By Bailey Mknelly,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Every student has taken at least one standardized test in their academic career. From the CAASPP to the SAT, these tests offer an easy, uniform way to compare students and schools to each other across the nation.

However, standardized tests are not effective because the idea of a “standard” student is subjective.

Students learn in different ways: some excel in open response questions while others thrive when faced with multiple choice questions. In other words, students can have different levels of success simply based on how a question is worded, which makes standardized tests an unfair way of judging a student’s knowledge.

Moreover, the tests don’t take into account external factors. Students may have stayed up late the night before the test. They may have been upset about something that had happened to them that day. They may not even be a primary English speaker.

The results of a student’s test can even be affected by something as arbitrary as what they ate for breakfast that morning. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, Virginian school districts that increased calorie intake for their fifth grade students on test days experienced increases in passing rates of 11 percent, 6 percent and 6 percent respectively on mathematics, English and social studies tests.

In essence, external factors make comparing knowledge through standardized test scores ineffective and inaccurate.

Standardized tests cause unnecessary stress as well. When I was in second grade, I had to take the STAR test for the first time. I cried for hours the night before because I went to Cesar Chavez Elementary School and we hadn’t learned how to read English yet.

My mom was stunned that I was so upset because the results of my test didn’t affect me at all. She didn’t understand that it was the fear of failure that led to my sadness.

In fact, in 2002, the Sacramento Bee reported that “test-related jitters, especially among young students, are so common that the Stanford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it.”

Ultimately, standardized tests fail in assessing a student’s understanding of key information. They don’t account for the fact that there is no standard student – making them impossible to be effective.