{"id":17309,"title":"Should Colleges Still Use Standardized Tests?","description":"Standardized testing is not a true measure of a students ability and should not be used to determine college admission","content":"

80% of teachers claim that standardized tests are taking way too much of students' time, and not preparing them academically (American University)<\/a>. Many colleges and universities look at standardized tests as a way to measure if someone is good enough to attend their college instead of looking at the whole student. However, lately several schools such as Hampshire College have been ignoring standardized tests, which have been improving the diversity, and improving the turnaround rate. This topic is very controversial, as for many years colleges are still using the same structure of tests, to determine students' acceptance, which should have changed because society is changing and students shouldn\u2019t have to be taught the test but the focus should be on academics. Standardized test scores should not be used to determine if a student gets into college or not as they are not a true measure of a student\u2019s academic ability because tests affect students mental health, don\u2019t provide adequate conditions for those with disabilities, and affect the funding of schools, even though they are inaccurate.\u00a0<\/p>

Standardized tests often lead to taking a significant toll on students' mental health, without the intention of doing so. For example, a study taken out of Stanford showed that it makes them want to vomit and they spend more time studying than coming up with a way they can remember the information so they don\u2019t retain any of it (Sofia Ershova)<\/a>. Tests determine the student\u2019s future, so they are stressed because if they have just one bad day it can affect their whole entire future because schools use this as a way to see if they meet the standards of the school. Students can work successfully for years and be involved with many other activities, athletics, volunteer opportunities, jobs, etc. but none of that will matter if the college bases their admissions decision on the testing score without recognizing all of these achievements.\u00a0 This can lead to high levels of anxiety for students making it difficult for many to perform well the day of the test.\u00a0 Students can spend many hours, days, weeks, studying for these tests instead of spending this time learning.\u00a0 Parents will spend valuable resources helping their students to prepare for such tests.\u00a0 All of this leads to large amounts of stress and anxiety for all, parents, students, and teachers. Students' mental health around tests is greatly affected for everyone but even more so for the children who have learning disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>

Several states currently don\u2019t have a law in place that helps students with disabilities and there are no different tests that can support students with disabilities even if they are under the American with Disabilities education act (GreatSchools Staff)<\/a>. This makes several students want to drop out because they are having a lot more stress because these high-stakes tests are seen as unfair for them because schools are looking at these tests and if students do badly the students won\u2019t get into college.\u00a0 Students need colleges to look at all aspects of the student. Students with disabilities have differing abilities and often need more or different support.\u00a0 It can be even more important for there to be in place support for students to express their full potential to shine.\u00a0 These tests don\u2019t always do this.\u00a0 Students with disabilities might not have the same ability to learn in a classroom setting because instead of teachers having the time needed and support needed to help them, the teachers are stressed because they have to teach the test with strict requirements because the results are based on the school's federal funding.\u00a0<\/p>

Up to 26% of a student's school year is done either in preparation for a test and the test as well, which ends up costing roughly 1.7 billion dollars for every test that is administered (W. James Popham)<\/a>. The amount of money needed to administer all of these tests could be better used to support schools to expand curriculum and to teach. Teachers have a lot of pressure to both meet teaching expectations and meet the requirements to secure the federal funding the school needs to receive so they must focus on making sure the students do well on the tests. \u00a0 This all adds stress to the teachers and students all because this is how schools are measured and how college admissions are determined. Tests are a good way to determine a general idea of how students are doing in subjects such as math and English (American University)<\/a>. However, this is just a general idea because the tests can\u2019t measure everything for example electives and arts, these tests have no way of showing how a student is doing with art or is creative because of these multiple-choice tests.\u00a0 Instead of using standardized tests to drive funding which adds to the overall stress for administrators, teachers, and students, it might be a better idea to utilize tests to measure in general how students are doing to help drive curriculum and learning.\u00a0 The overall costs and added stress would be significantly reduced for educators, students, and schools allowing for learning to take priority over standardized tests.<\/p>

Colleges view standardized tests without looking at the negatives they bring to determine one's future. If they say they did badly on tests they wouldn\u2019t admit them into college. Standardized tests are a very bad way to measure a student\u2019s academic performance for a variety of reasons such as if students have disabilities, anxiety, and when teachers are teaching to the test out of fear of not receiving as much federal funding. Standardized tests should be removed from college admissions so students can focus more on obtaining their education rather than excelling at test-taking.\u00a0 Colleges should focus more on how to gather information on the whole student, not just from one snippet of one moment in time from a single test to determine who they would like to admit into their university. This would be a much healthier way for students and teachers to both teach and learn as well as for colleges to discern who to admit into their programs.\u00a0<\/p>


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