This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Back to School Test Score Blues

It’s that time of year again.  No, I’m not talking about back to school, not exactly.  It’s become a right of passage this time of year to hear about the depressing results of standardized tests around the state and in our local schools.  Maybe you share some of my concerns . . . 

Why does it take so long to get the results?  The data we’re getting now is a half year old!  Imagine waiting 6 months to ring up your total at the grocery store.  It’s basically the same process.  A machine uses lasers to read marks on paper.  Better yet, kids could take tests directly on a computer.  For the younger kids, school staff could enter their answers into the computer for them.  I once took a test for college credit on a computer and got the results before I left the building.  Why can’t we do this?  

Why do we test in March anyway?  In testing grades, at schools where they only teach to the test, the message is sent to kids that the “real” school year is over after testing.  This leaves nearly 3 entire months of learning that will not show up on the test.  If someone can explain this I would appreciate it.  Remember last year we missed over a week of school before the tests because of snow.  Did we push the tests back to make up for lost time?  Not to my knowledge.  

Find out what's happening in Naugatuckwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What does this test data really tell us?  A kid’s creativity? Leadership ability?  Integrity?  Perseverance?  Love of learning?  None of these things.  I guess it provides a vague sense of intelligence, if by intelligence you mean the ability to remember facts and processes from months prior, or the ability to understand the tricky nature of bubble-in tests.  

Here are some things that affect kids’ test scores:  quality of instruction, culture of the school, quality of curriculum.  

Find out what's happening in Naugatuckwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here are some other things that affect kids’ test scores:  what they had or didn’t have for breakfast that day, how much sleep they got the night before, a cold, a belly ache, poor eyesight, day dreaming, testing anxiety, snow storms and much, much more.  

Standardized test tell us how a child performs on specific tasks on one particular day, or week.  I’d much rather hear about my child’s progress from a dedicated and caring teacher’s daily observations.  But to be clear, I’m not saying standardized tests are inaccurate.  Standardized tests indicate two things very accurately-- the family income of the child, and the parents’ educational levels.  These two things correlate extremely well with standardized test scores.  With this being said, we kind of know before the test how kids will score, so what is really the point of the tests anyway?  

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?