In 2012, standardized tests cost US states over 1.7 billion dollars. Think about that number for a moment. With that money, we could give every single teacher in the nation a raise of 550 dollars. Given that these tests supposedly provide valuable information and identify weak students, you would think the United States would rank first in the world in education. Or at least among the top five countries, right? Surely not 40th in math or 24th in reading? For far too many years, standardized testing has been hailed as a benchmark of students progress. However, this brutal regime of up to twenty-five hours of exams a year is not working. They are nothing but high-stress wastes of time, ineffective at improving students skills.
Remember the last time you took a standardized test. How did you prepare? Did you think methodically and critically, connecting the dots between each
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There is clear path forward: find a better way of measuring student growth. And there’s no lack of options. Most interestingly, “stealth assessment” has been proposed as a replacement. Teachers can use software programs, such as Khan Academy, to passively collect data on students’ knowledge. But schools have no incentive to change the status quo. Until we pressure administrators to end these unnecessary tests, we will be forced to toil through them year after year. But we can force change. We must force change. There’s a simple answer: opt out of these tests. Protest and send a message to your districts that we students will no longer tolerate these stressful, ineffective assessments. We can make a difference. In 2015, over 200,000 New York students, representing 20% of the population, decided they had had enough. They dissented, refusing to participate in standardized tests they saw no benefit in. With this objection, they sparked a conversation, forcing leaders to confront their inefficacious policies. Will you join your peers to incite