Independent Studies: A continuing series of roundtables with South Brunswick High School students hosted by The South Brunswick Post.
By: Matthew Armstrong
Tests in school are supposed to measure a student’s knowledge, intellect and commitment to diligent study.
But some high school students say that standardized tests do none of the above.
“I don’t think it’s a fair gauge of our academic performance at all. It’s unnecessary pressure and inaccurate,” said Dan Rispoli, a junior who attended a recent roundtable discussion with the editorial staff of The South Brunswick Post. The discussion was held Friday.
Students said standardized tests are an inaccurate measure of students’ abilities, are unfair to the poor, are too highly regarded by school officials and through the current system of incentives for high scores on tests they have taken away teachers’ freedom to teach things beyond what is specified in the core curriculum.
For the past two years the state Department of Education has required New Jersey’s students to take standardized tests so it can monitor the performance of school districts, districts can monitor their schools and schools can monitor their students.
Even though school districts and the state think these tests are necessary to ensure a quality education for all students in New Jersey and colleges require them for admission consideration, some South Brunswick high school students questioned the value of these tests at the roundtable discussion.
This comes in reaction to student protests against standardized tests across the country. Students in Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, Wisconsin and other states have protested state standardized tests in recent months, according to a report in the New York Times. These protest have taken the form of boycotts, walkouts and, in some states, litigation.
This spring, South Brunswick students in kindergarten through grade 11 will be taking some form of standardized test. That doesn’t include college admission tests and the Scholastic Assessment Test.
The Department of Education also mandates that fourth-graders take the Elementary School Proficiency Test, eighth-graders take the Grade Eight Proficiency Test, and high school students take the High School Proficiency Test, which they must pass to graduate high school.
In addition, South Brunswick requires students in kindergarten through the sixth grade to take standardized tests, as well.
These tests are then used by the state and the district to monitor the status of students and schools as a whole to make sure the students are learning at a certain level, according to Faith Sarafin, acting director of the Depatment of Education.
Most colleges still use the SAT as an important element in their admission process.
But some students resent these standardized tests, which they said seek to judge 12 years of academic performance in one day.
“If two kids have the same grade-point average and one scores higher on the SAT, that doesn’t mean they’re a better student,” said sophomore Rebecca Stoloff. “It’s not a fair assessment of how good a student you are.”
Students also said that the standardized tests don’t really test a person’s knowledge or intellect.
“They test your test-taking ability, not how smart you are,” said junior Ramu Jonnalagadda.
“Do they want a good test-taker or a good student?” said Maddy Zefferino, a senior.
The students recognized that the state needs to be able to monitor school districts, but also said they believe too much emphasis is placed on the scores of individual students.
“A good teacher knows which students are struggling and need extra help. They don’t need a this test to tell them that,” said Rebecca.
Students also said preparing for the tests, and then spending an entire week just to take them, impinge on instruction time.
“More and more time is spent by teachers to prepare for these standardized tests, and that disrupts the students actual learning,” said Sreedar Raja, a junior.
The Department of Education says these tests are needed to make sure all the schools in New Jersey are properly educating their students. If a school as a whole does poorly on the tests one year, the county superintendent will usually step in to help improve the school.
If these poor test scores continue for more than three years, the state will step in to manage the school, said Ms. Safrin. In addition, there are financial incentives to schools that do well on these tests. Last year, Crossroads School received $80,000 from the state for its high test scores, according to John Haymond, director of testing and information services for South Brunswick school district.
While South Brunswick continues to score exceptionally well on these tests, students say that this incentive program for achievement on standardized tests is limiting the methods and content of classroom instruction.
“Classes are so geared to the standardized tests,” said Rebecca. “Teachers shouldn’t have that stringent of a curriculum that they can’t teach something they feel is important.”
Also of concern to the panel of students is the possibility that these tests, especially the SAT, are unfair to the poorer segments of the population.
“You can take SAT courses to improve your score,” said Rebecca. “If someone doesn’t have the money to take the course and doesn’t do as well on the test as those who do. That’s not fair.”
Then there was debate over testing young children, with some claiming that the pressure is too great. Students also said that if children do poorly on the tests, they can get the message that they are failures — a feeling that could perpetuate itself in the future.
“I remember in second grade this kid just started crying when the tests were handed out,” said Dan. “To place a young kid in a remedial class just based on one test is not fair to that kid.”
While the students pointed to faults in the standardized testing regiment, saying there were too many of them and were given too much importance, they acknowledged that some level of standardized testing must occur to provide quality education across the state.
“You have to have some sort of state and national measure,” said Sreedar. “They don’t want to send someone out into this world if they can’t pass this basic test.”