By Ava Breslin The main complaint from students is the change from teaching to the test. “Wilson's teachers often boast of our 'top-of-the-charts' academics. While the numbers are there, the classrooms are a bit different. Your teacher will tell you that everything is 'for the test'. And they will never teach you things that won't be on the standardized test,” says Lexx Smith, a Sophomore. This begs the question of what these tests are really even looking for, as it’s really not what is being taught in class. “They [teachers] teach to the test and even mention ignoring things because they won't be on the test. This is not acceptable,” stated Wesley Cipolla, Senior. Everyone has heard about or taken these tests before. They're common knowledge. But many wonder what these tests are really doing for our students. Certainly some tests can help students get into colleges of their choice or military placement, but do they offer teachers and administration a gauge of what the students actually know? That’s where it gets messy. “No,” said Mr. Greaves, one of Wilson’s many counselors, immediately after being asked if these tests give a good measurement of what the students know from class. Mr. Damiani, the ninth-grade principal and school assessment coordinator, also stated, “No, it is not a sufficient gauge.” Not only do the tests fail to display students’ knowledge, they fail to display students’ ability because they are one test on one random day. Students could have troubles in their personal lives, whether a relationship ended or there was a death of a family member. It seems very unfair that students can have off days and then have to take a test that is sometimes important for their futures. If they fail, they then have to take remediation courses. Administration has overlooked the fact that students themselves cannot be standardized or put in a box. With more information on this, Ms. Sustello (10th grade honors English, 11th grade CP English, Keystone remediation and SAT/ACT tutor), expressed her concerns with the way these tests are set up. After asking her openly what her comments are on standard testing, she immediately stated they were “unnecessary.” She continued by saying that “they look at [scores] year to year, but year to year it’s a different group of kids. You are comparing two totally separate cultures, climates, groups of kids. And then comparing their abilities and saying ‘oh, well, these scores improved,’ but how can they improve when you’re looking at different groups of kids?” Every year is a different test, as well. To be able to compare year to year, the tests would need to be the exact same. With heavy poetry one year to long short stories the next, how are we supposed to accurately compare our students? Sustello explained that “this is where I [struggle on an intrinsic level]; Politicians, people who make educations laws, nine chances out of 10 they have never actually been teachers or involved in school systems. They don’t understand what goes into it, they don’t understand all the things we do, they’re business [minded] people. So they want numbers. You can’t quantify a student, a class, a district.” This is the all too real truth about how these education legislatures, as well as our own district, view our students. Some people believe that there is no way to compare academic success without a standard measure. Mr. Greaves has stated, “You know, it’s really hard because curriculum changes so much from district to district and regions in the country that comparing one student from one state to another student from another state is difficult to do without a standardized measure.” But again, students from one area might not perform the same level as another area because of a list of things, so to compare them wouldn’t be authentic. The largest problem with standardized testing lies in the definition of standard, and the definition of standard is to be accepted as average. Standard students mean average students even when there are plenty of students above and below that line. Sure, finding average scores of a district might be helpful to see what subject areas need improvements, but that can only be done inside one district and cannot be compared to other districts, not when students’ learning and their confidence is at stake. Something that has been beginning to change the standardized testing world is portfolio based work. This kind of portfolio has student’s papers, projects and research. These things show critical thinking skills as well as editing and perseverance against obstacles. Some schools require their students to defend their portfolio in front of a panel of teachers to show their in-depth understanding of certain topics that way. Standardized testing in the vast majority of states and schools across the country, though, should be reevaluated and reconstructed to better identify the strengths and weaknesses of students. Photos Courtesy Of: Flickr.com; Pixabay.com
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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