Standardized testing does not achieve its aims
As Michigan’s budget is being evaluated, there is tense debate over the Michigan Merit Exam and bringing back the Michigan Promise Scholarship.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has expressed interest in bringing back the scholarship, despite cutting it from the budget this year. But government officials should restructure the entire program, and rethink the value of standardized testing.
Standardized testing does not achieve the ends that it claims to, and has many unforeseen consequences.
As it stands now, Michigan’s equivalent of standardized testing is the Merit Exam. The exam assess juniors in high school on various subjects such as math, writing, science and civics. It is used as a standard for how students and individual school district are performing academically. The test scores are used for admittance in colleges around the state, along with the SATs and ACTs.
But this ideology fails to accurately measure how intelligent a student is and how well they will do in higher learning.
Some students have short attention spans and may decide to give up halfway through the test simply out of disgust. Or they may have events going on in their lives interfering with their ability to focus, causing them to fail a test they should have passed.
With multiple choice, the right answer exists in front of the test-taker. If the answer is unknown, students are encouraged to circle at least one answer, since they have a chance at getting it right.
Rippling effect
Michigan’s government decides what schools should receive funding based on Merit Exam test results. Schools with lower test scores receive less funding, since they are viewed as failing to meet the state standard.
This adds a significant amount of pressure on each teacher for their students to pass, resulting in teaching to a test. Students are taught to regurgitate facts without actually understanding why X equals Y or the importance of a historical event.
One of the most important tools for success in college is analytical thinking. By being taught to a test, incoming freshmen lack the ability to think for themselves and may find college too difficult.
If school officials want to asses how well students are doing academically, they need to evaluate progress over a gradual period. A portfolio of work that includes pieces from different grades reflects progress in all areas of education, including ones not covered by standardized tests. Or the test should be more generalized and used as a tool for what students need improvement on, not just how intelligent they are.
There’s more to intelligence than filling in bubbles and repeating what teachers preach to their students.
Thinking is crucial to success in academics, and standardized testing doesn’t meet the grade.
