Tanking Standardized Tests

I recently read an article regarding statistics surrounding the gradual and drastic decline of ACT scores. (You can read the article here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/tom-mccormack_act-test-scores-fall-to-lowest-levels-in-activity-7118226078543876097-x4C0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop).

The article was not surprising to me.

If you know me you know I despise them. They put you in a boring room without pictures on the walls, in a eerily quiet room where you can hear a pin drop. You can't have water, or chew gum. You can't eat. There are strict rules that intimidate. You are told to read and circle endless questions and dots all day long on topics you haven't been taught or used all year long.

It seems logical to me that through the difficulties of COVID-19 and amidst the digital and technology driven world that standardized tests would no longer be appropriate, if they ever were appropriate.

There was an incredible amount of discipline and responsibility required for our high school students to complete their school work virtually. Students were left unsupervised to do a large majority of their work-I know this because I worked alongside many of them at Hy-Vee during Covid. I think it makes sense that if your student didn't have that self-motivation and commitment to their school work or didn't have the proper adjustment period to succeed to this new method of learning, that scores would be negatively impacted.

COVID-19 would've definitely hurt many students especially in communities without the infrastructure and financial capabilities to properly instruct all students virtually. My student for a month was essentially down to a half-day instruction instead of a full-day. Why would we expect anything different in this situation than for students to be slightly behind?

We encourage children to begin learning technology at a young age. Also, notable that there seems to be a disconnect between Pediatric Recommendations and Education. Doctors recommend limiting device usage in Pre-K children to 2 hours time and then Wham!

All of a sudden IPADS are used to instruct and are in every class room in K-12th grade. This disconnect leaves me with questions. Does this mean the problem is with device usage or the content in which children are being exposed?

What does this have to do with standardized tests, you may ask? Well, with constant scrolling, and the fast pace of educational games on these types of devices, why would we expect children to have the attention spans long enough to complete a standardized test?

The ways in which we instruct have changed, so why wouldn't the tests also adapt? Teachers are at a greater challenge of bringing students to the same level with all of the options now for teaching. We have a hybridization of teaching methods, not just with technology either. Now, there are new sound based approaches to teach reading and arrays have been added to math and the entire idea of Core math.

I just had an education meeting where I applauded educators for bringing back some of the reading and writing worksheets to the classroom. I called these, the oldie but goodies: like crossword puzzles for instance to help with word association to improve reading and writing skills. An analysis may be needed on how to bring students to the same level when some of these new methods work for students, and older methods work better for some students.

While I am not a teacher, I know I was never instructed on test taking strategies nor all of the content in which I was being asked on these tests. All throughout my years of education, I had to take standardized tests in a failed attempt to gauge my potential and aptitude. While, the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills was supposed to be a measure of where students currently are they are used in a different context for the ACT, SAT, and GRE.

I don't know how you measure knowledge where everyone could be seen as an outlier. Disabled or students needing accommodations for learning are at a disadvantage for test taking, so they are outliers. The gifted students who do well at test taking, can be seen as outliers because they know more than they've been taught or are in ELP courses, where they've been taught high level material.

So, those students are at an advantage because logically they would know more. Then, you have everyone in the middle that potentially becomes an outlier when they achieve beyond the tested level. When they test well, when they win school competitions, when they are accepted into a college and graduate with honors, or when they don't get their degree and become a millionaire anyway. Aren't those folks, also outliers?

The other problem with this idea is what makes an individual successful and smart anyway? How do you define intelligence? Is it how much money will you make? How well you use the resources and the money you make? Is it by the profession you will hold? The economic and socioeconomic status you hold? Are these things achieved by how well you do on a ACT test?

Curriculums vary from district to district state to state and the timing of when students are taught material varies. Yes. states have guidelines for every grade to learn regardless of the district but when they teach this is different. The tests in the classroom better encompass where the student is because they are taken throughout the year as they are learning versus standardized tests are done at the same time regardless of where classrooms are in their curriculums.

The material the student has learned matters in regards to these tests matters. If they don't use the material they are taught or haven't learned material, that knowledge isn't going to be fresh in their minds.

Did the test properly assess the student's vocabulary for the student who scored below average in English, but won the school's spelling bee?

Is the below average GRE scorer incapable when the student obtained the same degree in a shorter amount of time than their counterparts because their

Is it perhaps time to eliminate or give lower prioritization to these tests? It appears the purpose of them does not properly measure many characteristics of our students that will determine success.

Social skills for instance, the ability to work with others. Discipline and Perseverance the ability to show up timely and overcome obstacles, the ability to be a good problem solver and work through adversity. Work ethic being one of the most important and influential factors. Standardized tests can't measure those characteristics that have nothing to do with the ability to work in a given industry.

Which brings me to the over arching job market. The types of jobs where people are most successful from what I've seen in Iowa are skill based. They aren't the fluffy desk jobs- even though in my opinion those jobs do require a great deal of knowledge and concentration. The jobs paying are mechanic and production work. They are nurses and construction workers. How does a test like the ACT compare to the ability to succeed in one of these positions, is a question that should be answered. Are a majority of these people strong test takers or does it require other skills? Should tests be more hands on?

When a company hires their employees in a specific industry with varying backgrounds of blended work and school experiences how does the idea of test taking fit into this picture? Imagine how all of the employees standardized test scores compared are they the same and do all of those employees make the same income? Is their income associated with a higher score on the ACT? Doubtful.

For years now, I've held low regard for standardized tests for these reasons.

Would you allow a police officer to do brain surgery without a degree even if they could pass an ACT tests because they happened to have that knowledge?

How would you feel about someone without a high school degree passing the Bar Exam? Would you want them practicing law?

Let's eliminate standardized tests. Let's find a method focused more on the current methods of instruction. Let's set students up for successful and relevant careers. Let's consider our current students strengths and that most students are not being prepared for these tests. Let's take the negative pressures put on students to score well on these tests off our students, because in the big picture standardized tests don't influence success. Let's not cap our student's potentials. Let's empower them and believe in them. Let's help them realize they can Achieve their vision of what the American Dream is

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