Jacob Newell

Mrs. Hofmann
ENGL 1102-044
4/15/2014
Note to Reader
I took some things out of my paper that Mrs. Hofmann told me to think about. I changed up what
I thought standardized tests were used for and how they could be changed. I believe now that I
have made more revisions that my paper is stronger. I believe that it will relate well to anyone
who reads it and that it flows really well.
Inquiry Essay Draft
For a long time standardized tests have been used to measure what students are capable
of when it comes to the knowledge they have gained throughout school. The reason behind this
is that it is easy to make a standardized test based on information that has already been covered
in required courses that were taken by students since they are supposed to cover the same
content. But I find that there is a problem with this process based on personal experience and
information I found while researching the subject. I want to know, are there any other ways to
test students other than standardized testing?
I have found that standardized testing is not a good way to measure what students are
capable of because every single person is different and shows their potential in different ways. I
have found that many people learn in different ways and obtain the information differently than
others do. Also when you talk to them about the subject it seems that they know all the
information that was taught to them. These people usually have an A or B in the class when it
comes to doing homework and class work. Sadly a lot of these people, when it comes to
standardized testing, do not do well. They are just not good at testing for some reason. Due to
this they do not get into schools that they want to get into or do not get into a school that has
their major. I believe that standardized tests are worth too much in how a college evaluates a
student for admission. Most colleges use the Scholastic Aptitude Test or American College
Testing scores that students receive when considering them for admittance. If they do not score a
high enough score they do not even consider them for admission no matter how high their grade
point average was in high school. The SAT is used by every colleges admission process. "The
SAT is a unique presentation of the latest thoughts and research findings of key individuals in the
world of college admissions, including the president of the largest public university system in the
US, as well the presidents of the two companies that sponsor college admissions tests in the
US."(Rethinking, Zwick). Also testing is different depending on what race or ethnicity you are. I
have experienced this first hand when it came to the Advanced Placement testing for Advanced
Placement classes. I got a B in most of my Advanced Placement classes but I did not pass the
tests to receive credit when it came to college. I would have thought since I got a good grade in
these courses that I would have been able to pass the test without an issue. Many of my peers
think similarly when it comes to tests but it seems to be the same as is used to. "A 2001 study
published by the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-over-year test score
improvements were temporary and caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term
changes in learning."(standardized,procon). This is due to the fact that students only have to
remember information for a short amount of time and do not remember the information in the
long run. This also may be because of the teachers I had teaching the class.
When it comes to standardized testing finals in courses, the test is based on the
information that is covered in the course. When it comes to the information that students actually
learn it is in the hands of the teacher to teach them. So one teacher at a school can teach the
course and focus more on one part of the course, while another teacher at the same school
teaching the same subject focuses more on another area of the course. "A five-year University of
Maryland study completed in 2007 found "the pressure teachers were feeling to 'teach to the
test'" since NCLB was leading to "declines in teaching higher-order thinking, in the amount of
time spent on complex assignments, and in the actual amount of high cognitive content in the
curriculum."(standardized,procon). Due to this the students in the classes are learning different
information and are focused on one part of the course more than the other parts. This can mislead
the students to what is going to be on the standardized test which is going to evenly cover all of
the information that is supposed to be learned in the course. This makes test scores vary based on
which teacher the students had and how well they actually do on the tests. This is unfair due to
the fact that the teachers did not teach them all of the information that they needed to know. This
happened to me when it came to my advanced placement physics class in high school. So when it
comes to test like the Scholastic Aptitude Test and the American College Testing as well as
course final testing and advanced placement credit testing, it all comes down to the teacher that
you had when learning the content of the course and how well they covered all of the
information.
Standardized testing also has not improved student achievement since No Child Left
Behind was passed in 2002. "After No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, the US
slipped from 18th in the world in math on the Program for International Student Assessment
(PISA) to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in
reading."(standardized,procon). Based on this, we can see that test based programs have not
showed any incentive in working. This shows how policymakers and educators have no actually
found a good way to make a test based curriculum that shows positive results on students
achievement and also that there is no improvement in education. Kohn says in his book The Case
Against Standardized Testing "The only thing at which standardized tests are uniquely efficient
is ranking one school, or state, against one another"(Kohn,28). This is due to the fact students are
pretty much trained to learn certain information for a short amount of time, so they do not
actually remember the information they were taught after a test. This is due to the fact that other
information is being taught which becomes of more importance than the information that
students were previously taught. Usually students will not be tested on the previous information
so they honestly have no reason to remember it. I do this as well and it is shown when you
review information in a prerequisite course in your new course and do not remember what you
are supposed to do or what it was about. For example when I went to calculus 2 we reviewed
some information that we did in calculus 1 and I needed to be refreshed by watching my teacher
due a few examples because I did not remember how to do it. This is due to the fact that I learned
new information that became more important to me in the course.
I believe that there should be another way in which students are assessed on the
information they learn in their courses. The reason behind this is because there has to be a better
way than a test that covers everything in the course with specifics that students might have not
learned. I believe instead of a standardized test, teachers at each school should get together and
put tests together based on what they teach in a course due to it will be more accurate to what the
students were taught and the information they actually know. This will help increase test scores
because information that was not covered well would not be covered on the tests more than they
should be. Archbald says in his book that, " Each teacher, sharing ideas with departmental
colleagues, develops activities for more authentic assessment of individual students within
existing courses. This could involve a more authentic multiple-choice test of discrete
competencies, expansion of writing and specking tasks, or use of exhibitions to conclude major
units or of the course itself." (beyond, Archbald). These are ways that would work other than just
standardized testing but, there are also pros when it comes to standardized testing.
There are actually some pros when it comes to having a standardized testing program.
According to Richard P. Phelps "93% of studies on student testing, including the use of large-
scale and high stakes standardized tests, found a "positive effect" on student achievement. 100-
year analysis of testing research completed in 2011 which gave us this data.
(standardized,procon). Although some standardized testing is unfair it is not completely a bad
way to measure personal achievement for students. "Standardized tests are reliable and objective
measures of student achievement. Without them, policy makers would have to rely on tests
scored by individual schools and teachers who have a vested interest in producing favorable
results. Multiple-choice tests, in particular, are graded by machine and therefore are not subject
to human subjectivity or bias." says Richard Phelps (standardized,procon). I have witnessed
some students getting better grades on tests when it comes to free response questions on tests due
to them being a "teacher's pet." They had an answer a certain way and was given partial credit
for the question while I had my free response answer saying the same things theirs did and I did
not get any credit for the question. Although I was not a bad student, the teacher was playing
favorites and making sure that student got a good grade.
There are pros and cons when it comes to standardized testing. Since it is not a terrible
way to measure student achievement when it comes to academics, it still is around today. It has
been around for a long time due to how well it measures achievement. Since there are also many
cons when it comes to standardized testing, I believe that soon in the future there will be a
different way to measure student achievement which will be more accurate and fair. Everyone
has their own experiences when it comes to standardized testing, that is why some people have
these different opinions when it comes to the testing.













Citations
Archbald, Douglas A., and Fred M. Newmann. Beyond standardized testing: assessing
authentic academic achievement in the secondary school. Reston, Va.: National
Association of Secondary School Principals, 1988. Print.
Kohn, Alfie. The case against standardized testing: raising the scores, ruining the schools.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000. Print.
Sacks, Peter. Standardized minds: the high price of America's testing culture and what we
can do to change it. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books, 1999. Print.
"SAT scores are down and racial gaps remain | Inside Higher Ed." SAT scores are down and racial
gaps remain | Inside Higher Ed. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/25/sat-scores-are-down-and-racial-gaps-
remain>.
"Standardized Tests - ProCon.org."ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
<http://standardizedtests.procon.org/>.
Zwick, Rebecca. Rethinking the SAT the future of standardized testing in university
admissions. New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2004. Print.