Race to the Top

Grading Our Schools: America’s Standardized Tests Aren’t Performing

Children growing up in America today are familiar with SATs, or standardized tests that measure student performance on basic educational standards. These standardized tests are not only used to measure student performance, but also measure school performance. Depending on student performance, the school will be evaluated for funding, additional tutoring, an enhanced curriculum, or the possibility of new or more teachers. Those multiple choice questions on SATs can really help or hurt a school. Are standardized tests really the best way to measure school performance?

In early America, standardize tests consisted of written essays and oral exams. It wasn’t until the early 1900s when multiple-choice standardized tests were introduced. Multiple-choice questions helped to streamline the process of test evaluation. It wasn’t until the 1980s and 1990s when standardized testing became widespread, encouraged by the government as a way to measure student and school performance across the board, and in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act made this a federal requirement. Essay testing has only been a part of standardized testing in the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs. These programs cultivate and test students who perform at a higher level than federal standards.

Although the No Child Left Behind Act encouraged standardized testing as a measure of school performance, the Race to the Top act passed by Congress during President Obama’s term encourages state and school initiative in educational reform and performance. The Race to the Top act seems to be a positive step towards encouraging initiative and creative thinking on the part of teachers and educators, rather than an SAT board.

While standardized testing can help evaluate school and student performance, testing like this seems cursory and too generalized to be effective and to encourage the creativity, applied thinking, and initiative needed to teach students. It is vital that federal programs encourage schools to go above and beyond standardized testing.

The No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in 2001 to introduce and enforce educational standards in public education. The act was initiated by President George W. Bush early in his presidency. The act requires public schools to have their students meet certain educational standards in order to receive federal funding. For teachers, this act means that they have to teach their students to perform well on these tests. If any school’s performance on standardized tests are sub-par, that school will have to enact remedial programs, tutoring options, and other ways to raise student test scores. Although there have been significant positive results within public education since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed by Congress, there are also significant criticisms of the act, which has prompted President Barak Obama to put public educational standards under review.

One problem with the No Child Left Behind Act is that it enforces federal standards across states with distinct teaching programs. Although all public schools receive federal funding, states require their teachers to be certified by state. Critics to the act argue that federal standards should be state standards, or at least state-specific. Another criticism is that the act requires schools to show AYP, or significant improvement in student test scores from year to year. These criticisms make it difficult for schools to meet educational standards, and can lead to other problems like a tendency to cheat the system or the shuffling of low-performing students to low-performing schools.

President Obama stated in his 2009 State of the Union Address that the new educational reform act, the Race to the Top, was performing much better than the No Child Left Behind Act. Instead of funding schools that meet basic, general performance standards, the act encourages schools to create educational reform and performance standards at the state level, and those that perform the best are rewarded with additional funding.

Grading Our Schools: America’s Standardized Tests Aren’t Performing

Leaving Behind the No Child Left Behind Act

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