Who's Really Benefitting from Standardized Testing?
Tony Gabriel
GABRTEACH/ GABR-BEHAVE- GABRWORKS- Educator/ Presenter/Writer/Professional Development/ Workforce Development/
"The four corporations that dominate the U.S. standardized testing market spend millions of dollars lobbying state and federal officials — as well as sometimes hiring them — to persuade them to favor policies that include mandated student assessments, helping to fuel a nearly $2 billion annual testing business a new analysis shows. The analysis, done by the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit liberal watchdog and advocacy agency based in Wisconsin that tracks corporate influence on public policy, says that four companies — Pearson Education, ETS (Educational Testing Service), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill—?collectively spent more than $20 million lobbying in states and on Capitol Hill from 2009 to 2014. "(Valarie Strauss - Washington Post- March 2015)
(Obviously, the amount has increased since then.)
THE GAME BEGINS!
Each year billions of dollars are spent preparing states, schools, students, teachers, administrators and school districts for what many see as the most important part of the school year- "State-Testing Season."
Not counting student standardized assessments at the beginning of the school year, from January of this year to sometime in late April or early May, students will be bombarded with pre-tests, practice tests, review tests, and the actual tests. All in the name of measuring how much "academic progress" or "learning progress" students are able to prove through performance data aligned with various benchmarked parameters. In plain English, are our students actually able to prove and demonstrate that they are learning anything in relation to their stated grade level.
For companies like, Pearson Education, ETS (Educational Testing Service), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw- Hill- standardized testing mandates are gifts that keep on giving while they laugh all the way to the bank. This is no accident.
Through continuous lobbying efforts, the big four (Pearson Education, ETS, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw -Hill) have earned and continue to earn billions of dollars based on a student assessment model they, the school districts and states know is biased, misleading, and futile for many students that are supposed to benefit from this testing model. Many of these students go all their educational lives never performing at grade level or getting any direct assistance from these companies.
What happens to these students?
What responsibility, if any, should these standardized testing giants assume on behalf of struggling student testers and their families?
How should the schools and school districts that instruct them be held accountable?
Is standardized testing really helping our students in K-12 education?
Is it fair to penalize teachers, particularly those in low performing schools, because of the low-test scores of their students who may be performing at one to two grade levels below the norm?
Do Tests Truly Define Who We Are?
At some point in our lives, many of us have been at the mercy of standardized testing. But for a moment, imagine that the only way you could receive a salary increase, buy a house, become a dancer, painter, musician, actor, writer, or singer was to pass a standardized test. Ridiculous right. For many marginalized and low performing students in K-12, standardized testing does not indicate a complete and unbiased picture of who a student really is in terms of how that student can demonstrate their abilities, intelligence and intellect.
Yes, all students need to be assessed for their learning capabilities and achievements, but why is standardized testing the prominent tool. The simple answer is "follow the money!" As noted previously, testing is big business that pours millions of dollars into the pockets of testing and educational software companies. There is no incentive for these companies to do anything to help struggling schools and students but try to sell them another educational product or software package.
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How can states, schools, and school districts hold struggling testers and teachers accountable when they don't do the same for themselves. Additionally, the majority of the testing market is driven by corporate or individual profit motives and not a true concern for the different learning environments and styles as well as the challenges students below grade level in Reading and Math face on these types of tests.
If these companies, educational leaders, and state education boards are serious about the progress and the potential of all students, I challenge them to provide company and state funded scholarship grants that would go directly to the student, parent, or guardian to use for educational tutoring and transportation to other educational developmental resources or entities.
Student tutoring dollars should follow the student and not the school or school district. Thus, creating a free-market system where parents and guardians have more choices and options to help their children's learning and performance challenges.
Teaching to the test has taken learning and intellect development out of our school systems and left many of our students ongoing victims of monotonous standardized testing that has produced an apathy in many students who simply put no real effort into performing on these types of tests. Thus, you never get a true picture of what many students can do. As a former teacher and administrator, I have witnessed firsthand, students just selecting any answer just to get the test over with.
What Are Performance Based Assessments?
Suppose the hospital you went to told you that the surgeon who was going to operate on your heart had never actually performed surgery but had passed all his tests. Would you have any confidence in that surgeon? I hope not!
While this scenario may seem unrealistic, this is exactly the mentality used by, schools, school districts, and the standardized testing market when it comes to our students. It does not take into account that some students may better be able to "perform "or demonstrate their educational growth rather than key in or circle a right answer on a standardized test.
Performance Based Assessments -
"This system of learning and assessment allows students to demonstrate knowledge and skill through critical-thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and the application of knowledge to real-world situations. PBA also allows educators to create more engaging instruction and address learning gaps by observing over time. And it helps them gather well-rounded information to better support their students’ success—a far cry from the “drill and kill” of state and federal standardized tests." (From NEA-Today- "Standardized Testing is Still Failing Students")
Solutions
"No schoolteacher has ever had a student return to say a standardized test changed his or her life"- Joe Martin
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