Standardized Testing and Curriculum Standards

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Standardized Testing and Curriculum Standards

It cannot be said that all assessments are unnecessary and academically limiting for students. If teachers are to know their students’ strengths and weaknesses, they must formulate a way in which to assess their knowledge. In order to create a curriculum adherent to the most specific needs of a teacher’s class, assessment must play a role when devising the course of action for the academics taught.

This does not mean that all standardized testing is an accurate form of assessment. If most standardized tests were geared towards assessing students in order to create better curricula, those that support tests such as the GEPA and HSPA might have a better argument. However, as most in the teaching profession know, this is not the case. These tests are usually used to evaluate a student’s preparedness for a higher level, whether that means another grade or an advanced academic program. Standardized tests assess the student without considering the structure by which the tests are formed. Tests such as the GEPA aren’t interested in bettering schools’ curriculum, but rather evaluating a student within what is already taught, regardless of its value.

In order to place a quantitative degree on testing scores, there are valuable standards of teaching. More specifically, for an English teacher, there are a set of "indicators" to follow when teaching writing, all of which students must be capable of by the end of the year. For example, and just to name a few, at the conclusion of a seventh grader’s year, he or she should be able to engage themselves in the full writing process (from prewriting through post-writing), consider the purpose and audience of their work while writing a range of essays...

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...ds-on experiences with problem/solution and issue-based themes in mind.

A teacher’s job continues to expand as student needs increase. They must grasp the opportunity to provide meaningful instruction and lessons in the classroom. Aside from being role models, friends, and leaders to young scholars, teachers are life-preparers, advice-givers, and inspirers. The role of standardized testing serves only to thwart these attempts of momentous connection between teacher and student. Teachers must take on the responsibility of providing students with valuable assessments that truly reflect a student’s capabilities. Students must not be swept away into a sea of filling in the circle completely, leaving no white spaces. Instead, teachers need to fill their curriculums completely, leaving plenty of room for thoughtful discussion, motivation, encouragement, and enrichment.

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