Distinguishing the Scorch from Standardized Testing
It must not be evidently clear that students are already currently being put under immense amounts of stress and pressure to meet state standards alone. That now, on top of this large amount of work, state mandated tests are included to add in more test preparation, further the amount of information teachers are enforced to teach in a short amount of time, and keep the students who are already involved in late-night lasting extracurriculars up even later, making them even more tired the next day. The following story and organization will be discussed to enforce the opinion that students should not be required to take state-mandated standardized testing. From ProCon.org, “According to late education researcher Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, qualities that standardized tests cannot measure include ‘creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline, leadership, civic-mindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefulness, sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty, integrity.’” Not only are they stressful and time-consuming, but they also fail to measure many of the important skills involved in human nature. Keep in mind while reading further supporting evidence that standardized tests are detrimental to students’ learning and should not be involved in curriculum, college, or state requirements.
Leslie Postal, a contact reporter from The Orlando Sentinel, published the article “Parents Against High-stakes Tests Deliver Clown Noses to State Leaders,” which explains the act of a group of parental individuals who aspired to send a message to state leaders in Tallahassee, Tennessee. The article focused on members of the group who spoke out about what they believe education should be like and what should be changed. They sent their messages through “smell the baloney” kits which also included group views on bills the Florida Legislature is taking into account, and funny red clown noses. The group views describe in detail what specifically they wish to see happening in the community, state, and eventually nation within standardized testing requirements. Hopes of the group campaign taking off are high as they wait for responses to the delivered kits; overall, group members like Sue Woltanski just hope for “a fair and valid education accountability system.” Which could not possibly be too much to ask for.
The FairTest Organization is an organization helpful to those looking to oppose State mandated standardized testing, but do not know quite how to do so. FairTest calls themselves “The National Center for Fair and Open Testing.” They offer online resources such as articles that provide updated facts on statistical improvements, political education rights, and reasons to support FairTest and their struggle to fight mandated standardized testing. Providing statistics like “More than 620,000 Refused Tests in 2015” and “More than 850 four-year colleges and universities do not use the SAT or ACT” are helpful to those who might not understand why FairTest is so much against standardized testing, or are looking for reasons to decide whether or not standardized testing is worth the stress and time consumption. Not only does FairTest supply helpful current information, but they also have a list of recent projects they have started. For example, FairTest is working with other organizations, Testing Resistance and Reform Spring, to help build their campaign against standardized testing by working together. Other current projects include expanding the list of colleges where applications with a test score is optional, not required, and promoting authentic, performance-based evaluations and assessments to improve both teaching and learning communities within schools around the nation. The FairTest Organization is a great example of a positive organization working to oppose standardized testing to help those all around the nation.
Standardized testing has gone too far and should work to be minimized or eliminated completely. Many organizations like FairTest are working hard to do so, but their work alone is not enough in order to make the progress that would benefit educational programs for good. Along with that, parent individuals from Florida are contacting state leaders to better the lives of their sons and daughters. Doing so provides so much more time for teachers to instruct students more thoroughly, and for students to have more free time. In conclusion, many people are making an effort to lessen the stress that comes from these tests and amount of standardized testing in general, but this alone is not enough. Together we can work to make students lives better.
Works Cited
Postal, Leslie. "Parents against High-stakes Tests Deliver Clown Noses to State Leaders." OrlandoSentinel.com.
Orlando Sentinel, 16 Feb. 2016. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
"Standardized Tests - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., 4 Mar. 2015. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
"The National Center for Fair & Open Testing." The National Center for Fair & Open Testing. N.p.,n.d. Web. 18
Feb. 2016.