Standardized Testing? What's the harm?

I loathe standardized testing. Not only do we give up instruction time for multiple days, but the wear and tear on students and teachers is sad. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, I've proctored about a thousand hours of CSAP, TCAP, PSAT, ACT, PLAN, EXPLORE, PARCC. Our kids begin taking tests in third grade, and they take them each year through (until recently) 11th grade. 9 years!!! What profession requires 9 years of testing, 3-6 hours a session?

I loathe standardized testing for what it's reduced: thinking, problem solving, creativity, intelligence. It's also reduced extracurricular necessities like art, music, and phys ed. There are stories of schools reducing recess so students can practice more for state tests. How does this produce 21st century learners? When asked to form an opinion, many of my students cannot do so. They'll ask for multiple choice over essays because they're "easier". My students do well with multiple choice, unless there's complexity and inference within the questions. Then they don't know what to do. I have students with diagnoses of 'text anxiety,' and their parents demand 504 plans with unlimited time so their kids can finish a test without a panic attack. 17 years ago, there were few kids on 504 plans for test anxiety because we didn't have so many darned tests.

Critics think people like me don't like standardized tests because we don't want to be held accountable for student learning. Not true! I plan varied lessons each class to reach a variety of learners. I work hard at my content so students will be better readers, writers, thinkers, and speakers. A single measurement...a standardized test...does not assess what I do in my classroom. Nor does it show student growth accurately; it simply demonstrates how well a student can fill out a test form.

I loathe standardized testing because teachers are the only ones held accountable for the test results. We are. There is no student responsibility with test scores; we send home forms that parents might look over and then toss. Schools are rated on their test scores; teachers are evaluated on their test scores. But what about students who don't try? Who don't care? What about students who are in special education programs and don't participate in regular curriculum? They take the tests, and teachers are held accountable for their scores. What about non-native English speakers? Kids who've just moved to this country and need special services? They take those tests and we're held accountable for those scores.

I wish parents would wake up and actually research these tests. I wish parents would opt their children out and pressure their politicians to vote to eliminate the need for so much testing. However, our politicians are too busy voting for their lobbyists, honoring their commitments to ALEC and the Koch brothers, and playing with our children's futures.

 The lessons our students are learning are not preparing them for their futures, unless their futures encompass sitting for long periods of time, bubbling answers. And until our parents truly understand what is really happening to their children, we will continue to to be subjected to the will of our politicians.