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Standardized testing in schools
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:22 pm
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:22 pm
I oftentimes see teacher friends and acquaintances make social media posts advocating getting rid of standardized testing in schools. It seems like a way to avoid accountability to me, but I have never asked around about the flip side of that coin, meaning is there is a legitimate argument to scrap the testing. So, is my gut feeling saying these teachers are slackards correct, or is it a both ways thing? Do some actually advocate it because they could legitimately teach better without having to spend so much time preparing kids specifically for testing?
And before someone says “political,” yeah it’s political because the schools in America have declined under federal government oversight
And before someone says “political,” yeah it’s political because the schools in America have declined under federal government oversight
This post was edited on 4/17/26 at 12:25 pm
12
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:24 pm to prouddawg
quote:
is there is a legitimate argument to scrap the testing.
To scrap it? No
To criticize it? Somewhat. There are biases and the tests can always be improved.
The people who want to scrap them overrate the issues, and a lot has to do, ultimately, with a foolish belief in Tabula Rasa.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:27 pm to SlowFlowPro
Some of the people advocating seem like people who take their job seriously, some have a reputation for being jokes in the classroom
This post was edited on 4/17/26 at 12:28 pm
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:27 pm to prouddawg
Let's start with the teachers taking the tests as well.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:28 pm to prouddawg
Standardized Test create a whole school year pointed towards teaching to the test. It is one of the thousands of things in education that sound good in theory but don't work in practicality.
Take for example a World History Class. It is now taught in well defined units of chopped up memorizeable factoids. I called this trying to catch water with a net. You are missing 90% of it. There is so much context and flow missing that you aren't getting the whole picture. It is like this in every subject.
Students want to take you somewhere that they are interested in? Can't do that. Have to still to the standards because they are on the test. And the test is all that matters to schools and school systems.
Take for example a World History Class. It is now taught in well defined units of chopped up memorizeable factoids. I called this trying to catch water with a net. You are missing 90% of it. There is so much context and flow missing that you aren't getting the whole picture. It is like this in every subject.
Students want to take you somewhere that they are interested in? Can't do that. Have to still to the standards because they are on the test. And the test is all that matters to schools and school systems.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:31 pm to prouddawg
The ones who are serious and work hard who make these arguments typically TRULY and sincerely believe all children are born equally and are equally moldable, and all standardized tests due is show other outside variables (often with an -ism) cause the stratification in scores.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:36 pm to prouddawg
quote:
teacher friends and acquaintances make social media posts advocating getting rid of standardized testing in schools. It seems like a way to avoid accountability to me
They are parroting shite from the AFT and the NEA that spreads throughout teacher circles unquestioned. It is absolutely to avoid accountability.
For the losers that whine about "teaching to the test," you do realize that nearly every state has published learning expectations for every grade, every subject, so the tests are based on the expected standard of learning. Or you'd rather teachers just make up whatever the feel like teaching, which can be different than other teachers in the same school, district, etc?
A snippet of 3rd grade history in TX
quote:
(B) identify individuals, including Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, Benjamin Banneker, and Benjamin Franklin, who have helped to shape communities; and
(C) describe how individuals, including Daniel Boone and the Founding Fathers have contributed to the expansion of existing communities or to the creation of new communities.
...
(A) identify and describe the heroic deeds of state and national heroes and military and first responders such as Hector P. Garcia, James A. Lovell, and the Four Chaplains; and
(B) identify and describe the heroic deeds of individuals such as Harriet Tubman, Todd Beamer, and other contemporary heroes.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:37 pm to timdonaghyswhistle
quote:
Let's start with the teachers taking the tests as well.
That I'm on board with.
There are really 3 Types of teacher that hate standardized testing.
1. The my student's are shite and it's not my fault group: Hey Stop hassling me!
2. The I want to teach them hippy shite group: don't limit what I teach them or make me take up valuable time teaching them the periodic table when I can be teaching them about lesbian tree spirits. Don't control me man!
3. Testing might show that I'm on tiktok all day: The kids aren't going to learn anyway.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:37 pm to SlowFlowPro
Well another problem with teaching to the test is you only get those testable subjects focused on. Need to miss a class? Miss history. Need to go to therapy? Miss history. If it’s not math science or English, the school doesn’t give a frick about it because 80% of the school grades come from state testing. The rest is graduation rate and act scores. So we get kids who can’t function in the real world but they know the quadratic formula (if they have a calculator).
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:42 pm to Hawgnsincebirth55
Umm...in Louisiana history is a tested subject. They get them out of PE or another elective
Kids can definitely read, mine just got his back, 34 in reading on his ACT
Kids can definitely read, mine just got his back, 34 in reading on his ACT
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:43 pm to prouddawg
Should standardized testing be the end all be all of judging a school? Absolutely not.
Does it provide valuable insight into how a school performs? Absolutely yes.
It being standardized helps to judge the results when you can control for other factors.
Does it provide valuable insight into how a school performs? Absolutely yes.
It being standardized helps to judge the results when you can control for other factors.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:45 pm to lionward2014
quote:
It being standardized helps to judge the results when you can control for other factors.
Why not just use the ACT? Set a required score to graduate. Why do we need standardized test before that? The high school test are basically fail proof anyway if you have home support.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:45 pm to 03 West CoChamps
quote:
Standardized Test create a whole school year pointed towards teaching to the test. It is one of the thousands of things in education that sound good in theory but don't work in practicality.
Take for example a World History Class. It is now taught in well defined units of chopped up memorizeable factoids. I called this trying to catch water with a net. You are missing 90% of it. There is so much context and flow missing that you aren't getting the whole picture. It is like this in every subject.
Students want to take you somewhere that they are interested in? Can't do that. Have to still to the standards because they are on the test. And the test is all that matters to schools and school systems.
I appreciate this sentiment but none of that should apply to reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Social Studies and History shouldn't be on standardized tests.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:47 pm to deeprig9
quote:
I appreciate this sentiment but none of that should apply to reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Social Studies and History shouldn't be on standardized tests.
We need to clarify here. Are we talking elementary school age test or high school graduation requirement level test. 2 separate issues.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:49 pm to 03 West CoChamps
quote:
Why not just use the ACT? Set a required score to graduate. Why do we need standardized test before that?
Because some people pay thousands of dollars for private tutoring for the ACT so it skews the results.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:49 pm to prouddawg
quote:
Do some actually advocate it because they could legitimately teach better without having to spend so much time preparing kids specifically for testing?
I never had a teacher preparing us for testing. They taught the material. You learned it or you didn't. If the teacher was really good then the side effect was you doing better on the test.
The important thing was putting the best teachers in the best classes. My HS G.T. teachers were the most knowledgeable and the fastest at covering material because all of their students were very high I.Q. Putting that teacher in charge of dumb arse kids would have been a waste. Kids are not equal. You cannot make them equal. But the colleges keep trying.
This post was edited on 4/17/26 at 12:51 pm
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:49 pm to prouddawg
so standardized testing is good
but
teaching only the material on the test and only the formulas to help bring up the overall test scores for the school is....not so good
I think standardized testing overall does a good job of showing who is actually smart. But I dont like how many schools have went away from explaining the why, how and when things apply because all they care about is teaching the test.
but
teaching only the material on the test and only the formulas to help bring up the overall test scores for the school is....not so good
I think standardized testing overall does a good job of showing who is actually smart. But I dont like how many schools have went away from explaining the why, how and when things apply because all they care about is teaching the test.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:50 pm to lionward2014
quote:
Because some people pay thousands of dollars for private tutoring for the ACT so it skews the results.
That is completely irrelevant. It is a content knowledge measure. Teachers would become the tutors.
Do MLB scouts care if you got outside help besides your HS coach when they are scouting for the draft?
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:51 pm to 03 West CoChamps
Age test. To see how your kid, and your classroom, and your school, and your district are measuring up compared to each other, and across the state, and across the country.
Posted on 4/17/26 at 12:52 pm to Zach
quote:
I never had a teacher preparing us for testing. They taught the material. You learned it or you didn't. If the teacher was really good then the side effect was you doing better on the test.
The important thing was putting the best teachers in the best classes. My HS G.T. teachers were the most knowledgeable and the fastest at covering material because all of their students were very high I.Q. Putting that teacher in charge of dumb arse kids would have been a waste. Kids are not equal. You cannot make them equal. But the colleges keep trying.
How is life over 40?
Everything changed with NCLB.
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