Standardized Testing: The Glossary Of Education Reform

Introduction Standardized testing is one of the most controversial topics discussed in American schools today. According to The Glossary of Education Reform, there are several different forms of standardized test: achievement test, aptitude test, college-admission test, international-comparison test and psychological test. These test are used to measure student’s academic progress, a teacher’s effectiveness on his or her students and the school’s overall performance. Standardized testing affects the majority of people involved in a child’s education including teachers, administrators, parents, and policy makers. They can determine a teacher’s job or a child’s acceptance into college, adding an unneeded burden to students and teachers across
This was approximately the same time when the idea of Common schools was being introduce by Horace Mann. In the year of 1845 Mann suggested “that the schools become vehicles for social advancement, enabling all citizens to live educated lives” and he then convinced “the Boston Public School Committee to allow him to administer written exams to the city’s children in place of the traditional oral exams” (Gallagher, 2003). There have always been disputes about the role standardized testing plays in child’s education but, critics and parents largely voice their opinion in the mid 1960’s. Testing inequities were of large concern during the civil rights movement. As stated in Carole J. Gallagher’s book, Educational Psychology Review, “Critics argued that standardized tests were biased in terms of social class and racial/cultural background, thereby reinforcing social and economic inequality”. According to Gallagher in 1983 “the release of a Nation at Risk fueled the testing frenzy”, threatening the future of America because the education system was lacking behind other worldwide competitors. It was because of this threat that schools and colleges across the nation adopted “more rigorous standards and higher expectations for student performance” (Gallagher,
These test completely change the roles and duties of teachers. On top of a teacher’s regular duties they are required to “collect, organize and analyze data associated with test, group and regroup students according to test performance, develop vertical articulation of the curriculum to align with tests and coordinate student’s assignments based on test scores” and spend time prepping the students for these test (How Standardized Tests Shape and Limit Student Learning, 2014). Obviously with the additional duties teachers are expected to accomplish, they lose time actually teaching. According to the National Council of Teachers of English in their article, How Standardized Test Shape and Limit Student Learning, a teacher loses “between 60 to 110 hours of instructional time a year because of testing and the institutional tasks that surround it”. These tests also place an extensive amount of pressure on teachers and administration because these scores are used to determine a school’s average yearly progress. Some schools even pay their staff based on the performance of these test, giving educators more reason to move test preparation to the forefront in their classroom. In recent cases teachers and schools have entangled themselves in cheating scandals. Even in Atlanta Georgia eleven teachers were convicted for being associated with a standardized testing scandal that was “believed to be the worst of a