{"id":4630,"date":"2022-02-06T19:40:40","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T19:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tutoringwithatwist.ca\/?p=4630"},"modified":"2022-02-06T19:40:43","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T19:40:43","slug":"your-child-isnt-failing-the-system-is-standardized-testing-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tutoringwithatwist.ca\/ns\/your-child-isnt-failing-the-system-is-standardized-testing-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Child Isn\u2019t Failing, the System Is \u2013 Standardized Testing Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As curricula undergo continual changes and improvements, standardized tests remain a staple of the current education model. We persist in issuing these tests, even though each is like a metre stick thrown into the sea, and we hope to measure the ocean\u2019s depth this way. Data from multiple studies (1990<\/a>, 2005<\/a>, 2007<\/a>) confirm the adverse effects of such an approach to education. Why, then, must standardized tests remain the modern student\u2019s inheritance? So begins the standardized testing debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Problem \u2013 Ours, Not Theirs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We ought to think of school as an archaeological expedition, one in which books, computers, and teachers are likened to shovels, picks, and brushes for each student to use. These instruments can act as aids to a student\u2019s exploration and help them uncover what they\u2019re looking for. Such tools can\u2019t do the work for<\/em> the student (a shovel won\u2019t dig by itself!), but, when used properly, they can make the student\u2019s work more productive and enjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"standardized<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The beauty of an archaeological dig is that you never know what you might find until you start looking. Students, with the freedom to look and wonder, and with the right tools, will<\/em> make deep and meaningful discoveries within the school environment. But, if ushered in a particular direction at the expense of natural exploration, students will find the importance of those discoveries undermined, if made at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This phenomenon of streamlining a student\u2019s learning is known as \u201cteaching to the test\u201d: rather than allotting classroom time for more interesting, complex assignments that promote higher-order thinking, teachers feel pressured to shrink the curriculum for the purpose of teaching students how to perform well on a particular standardized test. In this way, standardized tests erect barricades around the more exciting portions of the dig site, confining students to an already well-dug section. Sure, they\u2019ll find something there, but it\u2019s nothing nobody has seen before. In fact, instead of finding stimulating new insights, they\u2019re more likely to unearth a grim conclusion: school isn\u2019t teaching me anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If not the students\u2019, in whose toolkit will you find standardized tests? For whose advantage are they issued? Ours, as adults. In our quest to quantify the unquantifiable, standardized tests are a strong pair of glasses, a well-tuned hearing aid. They allow us a peek into a world we so little understand, giving us something to evaluate and discuss. They provide us with the information needed to make charts comparing the academic skills of students by country<\/a>. In effect, they turn learning into a competition. And once-eager students are left to watch as their dig sites become racetracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

F the Test<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a Canadian reader and decided to view the link above, perhaps you felt a tinge of pride at seeing your country ranked so high on the list. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it comes with a notable admission: we as humans are inherently competitive. How much of that we owe to our own schooling experiences is difficult to measure, but the correlation is easy to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From a young age, students are taught to view school as a competition. Self-worth becomes a sliding scale from A to F. Report cards are currency with which one can purchase praise or shame, so you\u2019d better get a good one. And at the bottom of it all, lurking in the shadows of the mind, is fear. Fear of being scolded. Fear of being stupid. Fear of being outdone. But outdone by whom? Are we not all here to learn together? Why make comparisons?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparison between students finds its origin at a higher level, for the existence of premier schools is predicated on it. Standardized tests such as the SSAT<\/a> stand as gatekeepers to these premier schools, and students learn to revere them. But their reverence is often born of fear, and fear is no great motivator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administrators of the SSAT make no effort to disguise the cutthroat nature of their test. Their website states the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n