The test
The test
Illustration by Mike Hall
As a public school teacher for nearly a decade, I was part of an educational system that in part or whole, depended upon the use of standardized tests. In fact to get my teachers license, I had to take several batteries of standardized tests, on the national and state levels. In the process I have become good at passing them and at times, administering them, but I also have found out they are not the best way to evaluate individual students and a student’s educational progress. Here is my editorial comment on these types of tests.
The test
The boldfaced instructions say,
“Read each question carefully, and
Darken in your response in the circle completely
With an answer from A, or B, or C, or D.”
To too many students, this test is their reality.
“There are 100 questions on this test,
So budget your time appropriately,
And check the time left periodically.”
The pressure to pass increases dramatically.
Use of the test grows exponentially, and
is part of the current educational philosophy.
However this does not test them accurately
For it does not test the students’ creativity
or the ability to think critically when the
answers are not so easily discovered or
the students don’t know what questions to ask.
The truth of these tests have been uncovered,
Yet some say no student is going to be left behind
In the quest for a national educational improvement.
Teachers and school systems end up teaching the test,
And somehow forget all about the rest
Of the stuff they used t teach in public school,
But now the government has issued new rules,
And funds are tied to how the children perform.
Yet by some miracle, more make it to college dorms.