For students, standardized testing fails to make the grade

by Erika Crampton

Many people believe that standardized testing in schools have little to no benefits. The obsession with standardized tests have led to an increased amount of stress among students, lack of creativity in the classroom, and an enlarged focus on the students’ performance creating the illusion that the score received determines one’s academic intelligence.

Many students have been convinced that their test scores define them. Yet standardized tests are failing to determine the abilities of students. Every person is different. Students test, learn, and think differently. Lee Dalton, junior at WMHS, explained his views on standardized tests.

"Standardized tests are not particularly effective in testing the abilities of an individual Each person is different, so giving the same test doesn't show anything except for how well they take that certain test," said Dalton

Keara Sullivan, junior at WMHS shared her experiences and views on standardized tests.

"In my opinion, standardized tests do not reflect the intelligence of an individual. Personally, I am in honors and AP classes and I struggle with standardized testing. Recently I took the SAT and realized that some of the material on the test is not material teachers have covered in class. Standardized tests do not form to the material students have learned in school and therefore inaccurately rate a student's level of intelligence," said Sullivan

Jake Marquis, Junior at WMHS gave his input of standardized test.

“I think the popularity and overabundance of standardized testing in the national education system will result in the death of creativity and individuality among students. Standardized tests have proved that the education system is focused on placing students into categories,” explained Marquis.

Teachers have to prepare their students for the standardized tests given. This causes teachers to have to alter the information students learn. Standardized tests do not prepare students for their future careers and has no benefits for the students. Mary Garrity, sophomore at WMHS explained: 

"I think standardized tests are extremely unnecessary. They take away time from both the student and teacher. A teacher's curriculum has to accommodate standardized tests, which is taking away from teaching something that may actually help a student in life. As for stress, I believe standardized testing is every students’ worst nightmare,” said Garrity. “Students are not cookie cutter. We cannot be measured in tests and averages. Everyone learns differently. We are all unique. Some people are good at taking tests, others aren't. Does that make one necessarily better than the other? No! There are no tests in the ‘real world’ Thus standardize tests are just a nuisance and yet another meaningless thing for a student to stress over."

Abby McDaniel, sophomore at WMHS explained her views on standardized tests.

"I think standardized testing is unnecessary because it doesn't show what we've learned, just how much we can remember. These test scores can literally control your future since colleges heavily rely on SAT and ACT scores in order to get enrolled in the school. You could have the smartest person in your class with straight A's and then [she] takes the SATs or MCAS and completely bombs it because [she] just isn’t good at tests like that,” said McDaniel.

Standardized tests also bring put a tremendous amount of pressure on students. Gabrielle Rabito, sophomore at WMHS shared her view on the stress brought by these tests.

“I think standardized tests are pointless. They stress students out and don’t show their true academic abilities. Students need to pass standardized tests to graduate and they are so long and you second guess yourself while feeling rushed to finish,” shared Rabito.

Adding to students stress about standardized testing is the number and variety of tests a student will take before graduating high school. The most recent standardized test is PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers), a national exam aligned with Common Core Standards.

“The kids at the Boys and Girls Club were telling me about the new PARCC test and how it was on the computer, timed and extremely hard and how much they didn't like it because they felt rushed because they wanted to finish it in time,” McDaniel said. “Students who have a hard time with standardized tests or have a hard time with school in general don't benefit from these kinds of tests. Standardized tests don't show a student’s true potential to do something great and to show how smart they actually are.”    
     Despite students’ beliefs that standardized tests are a poor measure of students’ abilities, and that they add unnecessary stress, students at WMHS get to spend Wednesday morning like they did today: sitting in one classroom for an extended period of time taking the second half of the math MCAS—a beneficial way to get college and career ready.