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Standardized Testing: Harmful to Educational Health

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Standardized Testing: Harmful to Educational Health

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Depending on Standardized Tests is a Bad Idea

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Depending on Standardized Tests is a Bad Idea

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ABSTRACT
In the twenty-first century, the use of standardized tests as the primary means to evaluate schools and teachers in the United States has contributed to severe dilemmas, including misleading information on what students know, lower-level instruction, cheating, less collaboration, unfair treatment of teachers, and biased teaching. This article provides reasons for the increased use in high-stakes testing and detail on the problems it causes. Also included are possible solutions to alleviate the concerns associated with high-stakes testing.

In the twenty-first century, the use of standardized tests as the primary method to evaluate schools and teachers has contributed to severe problems in the United States. This approach of assessment is particularly harmful towards disadvantaged students. Policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have failed to reduce socioeconomic achievement gaps (Berliner ---.2013. Effects of inequality and poverty vs. teachers and schooling on America's youth. 2013 Teachers College Record 115 (12). http://www.tcrecord.org (ID Number: 16889). ). Since teachers face pressure to improve scores and since poverty-stricken students generally underperform on high-stakes tests, schools serving low-income students are more likely to implement a style of teaching based on drilling and memorization that leads to little learning. This form of instruction leaves few opportunities for disadvantaged students to make progress and contributes to unscrupulous practices, such as lowering proficiency scores, holding students back to prevent them from taking tests, and even falsifying students' scores (Rose ). The use of high-stakes testing is more damaging to students from low socioeconomic backgrounds than ever before because the number of these students has increased recently in the United States, but decreased in many other countries.

Further, students do not derive the benefits of the broader knowledge of a school's faculty because teachers fear that sharing knowledge may raise test scores of students taught by rival teachers, reducing their own opportunities of gaining bonuses and recognition for achieving high scores. Certain teachers are also treated unfairly because they instruct students who generally do not improve as much as others.

Since standardized tests offer narrow information on many forms of intelligences, relying heavily on them harms students, because they inaccurately measure student potential for success. By rarely using them like in Finland, or implementing them as only one method combined with other types of assessments, the United States can dramatically improve its school system and create more opportunities for all students to succeed.

Fortunately, , and . 2015. Obama meets with educators to talk about standardized testing. Zernike. 2015. Obama administration calls for limits on testing in schools. The Washington Post reported that President Obama recently said he is aware many students are taking too many tests and is committed to solving this problem (Layton and Brown 2015 2015 The New York Times. October 24. http://www.ny-times.com/2015/10/25/us/obama-administration-calls-for-limits-on-testing-in-schools.html?_r=0. ). President Obama's recent statements may be a sign that America's policies on testing will soon improve. The Washington Post. October 26. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/obama-meets-with-educators-to-talk-about-standardized-testing/2015/10/26/5974f570-7beb-11e5-beba-927fd8634-498_story.html. ). In October of 2015, the Obama administration called for a cap on testing that would limit schools to use no more than 2 percent of class time on testing students (Zernike

Declining test scores

Although many teachers oppose high-stakes testing, some policy makers insist on its use, claiming that accountability is needed and that something must be done about American students' declining test scores. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the 2009 Race to the Top (RttP) initiative were implemented, in part, because critics of America's educational system believed declining SAT scores showed that U.S. schools were waning in quality, but these cynics overlooked the increase in low-income and immigrant students taking these tests (Rose ). In fact, the number of students from poverty-stricken homes has recently risen. In 2014, for example, 2014. Child poverty in the U.S. is among the worst in the developed world. ---.2013. Effects of inequality and poverty vs. teachers and schooling on America's youth. The Washington Post reported that since 2008, in contrast to 18 countries that reduced their childhood poverty rates, the United States experienced an increase in childhood poverty of two percentage points (Ingraham 2014 2013 Teachers College Record 115 (12). http://www.tcrecord.org (ID Number: 16889). ) mentioned that there is more income inequality in the United States than in any other wealthy country. The Washington Post. October 29. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/29/child-poverty-in-the-u-s-is-among-the-worst-in-the-developed-world/. ). In an article on poverty in the twenty-first century, David Berliner (

Students living in poverty often underperform in school due to a plethora of unfavorable circumstances, including lack of health care and food, exposure to family violence, and high levels of absenteeism, factors that usually contribute more to their underachievement than inadequate teaching quality (Berliner ---.2013. Effects of inequality and poverty vs. teachers and schooling on America's youth. 2013 Teachers College Record 115 (12). http://www.tcrecord.org (ID Number: 16889). ; Jorgenson ). Such students also change schools much more frequently than their more privileged counterparts, making it more difficult for them to succeed academically (Berliner ). Critics concluding the increase in low-test scores occurred due to a decrease in the quality of American schools are therefore making an invalid inference.

Deceptive information on teaching and learning

Policies such as the NCLB act and the RttP initiative encourage districts to participate in unscrupulous practices, resulting in deceptive information on teaching and learning. The consequences for low student test scores on high-stakes tests have impacted schools greatly and include sanctions and school closures. To avoid these ramifications, some school districts manipulate the results, leading to skewed information about the quality of their teachers and the skills of their students (Rose ; Tienken ). Some areas, for instance, lowered the cutoff test scores that determine proficiency (Rose ).

Before NCLB, Texas implemented a policy based on holding schools accountable through students' standardized test results. Schools, especially in Houston, claimed they achieved remarkable results, often referred to as the "Texas miracle." Texas' perceived success encouraged George W. Bush to implement NCLB, hoping this strategy would promote success nationwide. However, a closer look at student achievement levels revealed there was no miracle. Many students scoring highly on the Texas state test were achieving at low academic levels. With inadequate skills, they achieved high scores on the state test that would equate to below the 30th percentile on the Stanford national test, and they could pass the 10th grade state exam with a score equivalent to the 5th percentile at the national level (Schemo and Fessenden , and F. Fessenden. 2003. A miracle revisited: Measuring success; gains in Houston schools: How real are they? 2003 The New York Times. December 3. http://www.ny-times.com/2003/12/03/us/a-miracle-revisited-measuring-success-gains-in-houston-schools-how-real-are-they.html. ).

Exacerbating this problem is the inferior type of learning, based on memorization and recall, that students gain when teachers drill them, aiming to enhance student performance on tests. Students' scores may improve, but they often fail to develop higher-level thinking skills. In Texas, for example, high school teachers noticed that although they raised their students' scores for the reading section of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test through drills and practice, many of the students could not apply what they learned to content other than that appearing on the state test (Dodge ).

In a story on the "Texas miracle," , and F. Fessenden. 2003. A miracle revisited: Measuring success; gains in Houston schools: How real are they? The New York Times reported how a student who passed her high school graduation test on her first try experienced severe difficulties at college. She had enrolled at the University of Houston only to find out that what she learned in high school did not prepare her for success in college. Not only did she endure difficulties in writing, but she also failed the college math entrance exam. Shocked that her public school had not prepared her well, she left and enrolled in a trade school (Schemo and Fessenden 2003 The New York Times. December 3. http://www.ny-times.com/2003/12/03/us/a-miracle-revisited-measuring-success-gains-in-houston-schools-how-real-are-they.html. ).

Moreover, the strong emphasis on high-stakes standardized tests prevents educators from assessing students' creative, research, debating, and public-speaking skills (Jorgenson ). Indeed, these tests do not measure many of the intelligences Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner suggested using for a well-rounded education, including the interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, kinesthetic, and naturalist intelligences. Instead, they only focus on two: the linguistic and mathematical intelligences.

Corruption and cheating

More serious than the aforementioned methods to inflate test scores are cheating scandals that in some cases end in felony convictions. One case occurred during Michelle Rhee's service as chancellor of Washington D. C. schools. During her tenure, Rhee implemented a system linking test scores to bonuses and teacher evaluations, firing many teachers for poor performance. After a rise in test scores, officials suspected cheating when high numbers of erasure marks were found showing changes from wrong-to-right answers. Although an investigation concluded little cheating occurred, unsatisfied critics wanted a more thorough inquiry into the rise of scores under her leadership (Resmovits Resmovits, J. 2013. Michelle Rhee cheating investigation memo renews calls for further probe of D.C. schools. 2013 The Huffington Post. April 13. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/13/michelle-rhee-cheating-investigation_n_3072568.html. ).

In addition to school employees who cheat by correcting students' answers are personnel who provide the questions to students before the test. Sometimes those who cheat do not get caught. For example, in Texas, an analysis of the TAKS, a state test used to evaluate schools, revealed tens of thousands of students cheated for years without repercussion. The Dallas Morning News had analyzed the scores and concluded that low-achieving schools were more likely to participate in untrustworthy activity (Ravitch ).

One of the nation's largest cheating scandals took place in the Atlanta Public Schools, resulting in the indictment of 35 employees in 2013 including the superintendent. Prosecutors accused educators of participating in a scheme consisting of artificially raising test scores, at times by erasing wrong answers and replacing them with the correct ones (Fausset 2015. Atlanta judge urges talks on sentences in school cheating case. 2015 The New York Times. April 13. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/us/sentencing-begins-for-atlan-ta-educators-in-schools-cheating-scandal.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article&_r=0. ).

Less collaboration

Another concern regarding high-stakes testing relates to unhealthy competition. RttP rewards teachers through merit pay if their students perform well, but this approach creates tension between teachers, encouraging less collaboration, a condition that interferes with the environment needed for optimal learning. Rather than promote the development of effective teachers in all classrooms, skeptics of RttP believe that it creates winning and losing teachers. Berliner and Glass () illustrate how systems that reward teachers according to student performance on tests interfere with a collaborative school environment.

Because policies such as the RttP initiative encourage educators to instruct their students to get the highest scores, teachers often resort to methods designed to defeat their colleagues. This type of atmosphere prevents students from doing their best work; when teachers interact with each other to share information on methods that will enhance the learning environment, pupils benefit from the broader knowledge of a school's faculty, but when teachers withhold this information from each other out of fear that their fellow teachers will outperform them, students are dependent only on the expertise of one teacher. Thus, students do not benefit as much as possible.

One of the components of high-achieving educational systems includes policies that create opportunities for teachers to collaborate in order to improve teaching and learning (Darling-Hammond, Wei, and Andree Darling-Hammond, L. , , and . 2010. 2010 How high-achieving countries develop great teachers. : Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. ). In Finland, for instance, teachers meet on a weekly basis to plan and make decisions on textbooks, syllabi, course offerings, assessments, and professional development (Morgan ). Implementing a policy that hampers chances for cooperation among teachers therefore is antithetical to the practices used around the world that promote successful school systems.

Unfair treatment of teachers

Further, policies such as the RttP initiative penalize teachers who teach certain pupils because their students are less likely to improve. Berliner and Glass () argue that the value-added measurement (VAM) system designed to evaluate teachers based on student test scores leads teachers hoping to earn a bonus or avoid getting fired to find ways to get many wealthy students, since these pupils will most likely show gains. The same teachers want to avoid English-language learners and students with special needs, because they usually score less well. Some of the most desirable students are middle class students who have done poorly the previous year; teachers often believe they will improve most.

Other students to avoid are gifted students. Although they may improve, their gains may not show because the tests usually do not measure content that is higher than their grade level (Berliner and Glass ). Additionally, gifted students usually achieve outstanding scores in prior years, making it difficult for their current teachers to raise their scores further. Amrein-Beardsley and Collins ( Amrein-Beardsley, A. , and . 2012. The SAS education value-added assessment system (SAS® EVAAS®) in the Houston Independent School District (HISD): Intended and unintended consequences. 2012 Education Policy Analysis Archives 20 (12). http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1096. ) describe teachers who experienced the seemingly unfair treatment that teachers of gifted students experience. One such teacher mentioned teaching students who scored highest, but did not receive a bonus like the other teachers in her school. The teachers in this study expressed frustration because they taught students who previously scored very highly and felt there was little they do could to raise students' scores further.

To show how unfair the VAM system can be with regards to rewarding teachers based on the type of students they teach rather than their effectiveness as teachers, Amrein-Beardsley and Collins describe two teachers who switched positions with each other. One eighth grade teacher showing low growth swapped positions with a sixth grade teacher showing the highest growth. After the change, the sixth grade teacher showed no growth, and the eighth grade teacher received the highest bonuses. The researchers concluded from their research, based on four teachers' experiences with the value-added measurement system, that the teachers were evaluated, in part, according to unreliable evidence.

Biased teaching

In addition, the use of policies like NCLB prevents disadvantaged students from making progress. Since disadvantaged students experience many conditions that impede their chances of improving on tests, principals working in poor districts endure more pressure to raise these students' scores (Rose ). Consequently, these pupils tend to receive more rote learning methods based on recall and memorization. Even if their test scores rise, they experience a less engaging style of teaching that limits the development of higher-order thinking skills (Rose ). As discussed in the examples involving the "Texas miracle," this method of instruction reduces opportunities for success. Not only do students experience an inferior type of teaching, they must sit in less stimulating classes, increasing their chances of dropping out.

When investigating Texas' alleged success, The Harvard Graduate School of Education ( Harvard Graduate School of Education. 2000. 2000 Studies find high stakes tests threaten disadvantaged students in Texas. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/00/01/studies-find-high-stakes-tests-threaten-disadvantaged-students-texas. ) reported that schools reduced the resources that would have been used to promote deeper learning in order to increase supplies for less stimulating work. Instead of providing disadvantaged students with more materials that advantaged students had and teachers working in wealthy districts used, schools focused on obtaining the resources to prepare pupils for tests. When test scores were low, schools decreased and even eliminated science, social studies, library research, and any curricular activities not covered in the test.

In a study on how the TAAS affected the quality of instruction in schools serving high numbers of disadvantaged students, Linda McNeil and Angela Valenzuela concluded that this test conceals the real problems of inequality (Harvard Graduate School of Education Harvard Graduate School of Education. 2000. Harvard Graduate School of Education. 2000. 2000 2000 Studies find high stakes tests threaten disadvantaged students in Texas. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/00/01/studies-find-high-stakes-tests-threaten-disadvantaged-students-texas. ). Studies find high stakes tests threaten disadvantaged students in Texas. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/00/01/studies-find-high-stakes-tests-threaten-disadvantaged-students-texas. ). Although Texas had gained recognition as a leader in holding schools accountable through testing, almost twice as many white students than African American and Hispanic students had completed the TAAS exit test needed to acquire a high school diploma in the late 1990s (Harvard Graduate School of Education

Mike Rose () provides a story told by a teacher to show what commonly happens in many disadvantaged schools. This teacher had worked in a disadvantaged school in California for 30 years. Since her students did not score adequately, the principal, under tremendous pressure from the district, requested all teachers to use a regimented curriculum focusing strictly on math and literacy. The teacher could not change the curriculum or rely on the methods used previously to motivate students. Art and music were no longer taught, and the joy of teaching disappeared. Such an approach harms teachers as a result of the mechanical and restrictive style of teaching their supervisors require them to implement. Critics of America's teachers often perceive them as having great influence on student learning and constantly rebuke them when students perform poorly; however, many teachers have minimal control of the teaching environment (Rose ).

Possibilities for a new system

In Japan, tests play an important role, but it is the university entrance exams that are most important, not those administered in schools. Additionally, parents and students, not teachers, usually worry more about test outcomes because teachers do not risk losing their jobs if students perform poorly (Williams and Engel ). Japan puts more emphasis on group evaluation rather than individual teacher evaluation. In that country, educators believe that student success results from the work of many teachers rather than just one. Evaluating groups of teachers is believed to encourage collaboration and the sharing of best practices to promote a sense of unity among teachers (Stewart 2012. 2012 A world-class education: Learning from international models of excellence and innovation. : ASCD. ).

Singapore has an interesting strategy; although it uses standardized tests to hold teachers accountable, it does not rely exclusively on them. Several professionals within each school evaluate teachers on a broad range of components in addition to using test scores. Some of the factors included in the evaluation include the level of teacher involvement with parents and community groups, the contribution they make to the character development of students, and their overall contribution to their peers and the school (Stewart 2012. 2012 A world-class education: Learning from international models of excellence and innovation. : ASCD. ). Some of the other methods used abroad include teacher observations by administrators and peer reviews designed to enhance practice (Williams and Engel ).

Conclusion

Relying on high-stakes standardized tests to evaluate schools and teachers leads to a plethora of problems. American policy makers can learn valuable lessons from abroad by exploring how top-performing nations in education evaluate their teachers because these countries practice different methods than the United States with better results.

References

Amrein-Beardsley, A. , and . 2012. The SAS education value-added assessment system (SAS® EVAAS®) in the Houston Independent School District (HISD): Intended and unintended consequences. Education Policy Analysis Archives 20 (12). http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1096.

---.2013. Effects of inequality and poverty vs. teachers and schooling on America's youth. Teachers College Record 115 (12). http://www.tcrecord.org (ID Number: 16889).

---. and . 2014. 50 myths and lies that threaten America's public schools: The real crisis in education. : Teachers College Press.

Darling-Hammond, L. , , and . 2010. How high-achieving countries develop great teachers. : Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.

2015. Atlanta judge urges talks on sentences in school cheating case. The New York Times. April 13. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/us/sentencing-begins-for-atlan-ta-educators-in-schools-cheating-scandal.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article&_r=0.

Harvard Graduate School of Education. 2000. Studies find high stakes tests threaten disadvantaged students in Texas. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/00/01/studies-find-high-stakes-tests-threaten-disadvantaged-students-texas.

2014. Child poverty in the U.S. is among the worst in the developed world. The Washington Post. October 29. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/29/child-poverty-in-the-u-s-is-among-the-worst-in-the-developed-world/.

, and . 2015. Obama meets with educators to talk about standardized testing. The Washington Post. October 26. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/obama-meets-with-educators-to-talk-about-standardized-testing/2015/10/26/5974f570-7beb-11e5-beba-927fd8634-498_story.html.

2010. The death and life of the great American school system. : Basic Books.

Resmovits, J. 2013. Michelle Rhee cheating investigation memo renews calls for further probe of D.C. schools. The Huffington Post. April 13. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/13/michelle-rhee-cheating-investigation_n_3072568.html.

, and F. Fessenden. 2003. A miracle revisited: Measuring success; gains in Houston schools: How real are they? The New York Times. December 3. http://www.ny-times.com/2003/12/03/us/a-miracle-revisited-measuring-success-gains-in-houston-schools-how-real-are-they.html.

2012. A world-class education: Learning from international models of excellence and innovation. : ASCD.

Zernike. 2015. Obama administration calls for limits on testing in schools. The New York Times. October 24. http://www.ny-times.com/2015/10/25/us/obama-administration-calls-for-limits-on-testing-in-schools.html?_r=0.

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Relying on High-Stakes Standardized Tests to Evaluate Schools and Teachers: A Bad Idea

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ABSTRACT In the twenty-first century, the use of standardized tests as the primary means to evaluate schools and teachers in the United States has contributed to severe dilemmas, including misleading information on what students know, lower-level instruction, cheating, less collaboration, unfair treatment of teachers, and biased teaching.