Myths Of Standardized Testing: Data-Driven School Reform

As future educators, it is critical to know how and how not to teach our students on how to be prepared for standardized tests. Timothy Shanahan discusses how a “data-driven school reform” is ineffective (Shanahan, 2014, p. 184). He describes it as follows, “they champion the idea that item analysis of standardized tests will allow teachers to know not only who may be having trouble but also which skills these students lack” (p. 184). Many educators believe that they can analyze the standard a student is not understanding based on their test results. The problem with item analysis is that tests only measure single factors; they do not measure multiple skills (p. 185). For example, a student taking a reading standardized test may fail the reading

Phillip Harris (author of Myths of Standardized Tests : Why They Don't Tell You What You Think They Do), states it quite clearly, “we can select a sample of the knowledge we want kids to learn that accurately represents the entire domain of knowledge we want them to acquire” (Harris, 2011, p. 25). However, this does not apply for standardized tests. The domain is much bigger, so the choice of what to put on the test becomes much harder. There are three main limits to testing: setting the limits of the domain, which items to choose for the test, and how many items will there be time for (p. 27). Harris also discusses how student achievement should not be evaluated based on their standardized test scores (p. 34). Also, standardized tests are so emphasized because they judge the performance of the teachers as well as the success of schools and programs (p. 39). Teachers are often punished or rewarded for their students’ scores, but they do not really work (p. 77). Many lawmakers believe that high stakes testing is the solution to better scores, but that often results in corruption (p. 90). Under pressure, many teachers and administrators will cheat (p. 90). Also, high stakes testing cause much of the curriculum to be left out, and they only thing that is taught is the stuff that will be on the test (p. 95). Jennifer Serravallo also argues against standardized testing. She states, “I think students are over-assessed and under-taught in the name of accountability, and I fear it’s only getting worse” (Serravallo, 2014, p. 12). All the time that is used to prepare students for standardized tests could be used in a more productive manner. Standardized tests fail to recognize how a child is doing in a “word-by-word basis” (p. 12). Some students struggle with decoding words so having students read aloud to assess if they need support (p. 12). To help a child become interested in the curriculum, they