Tests, tests, and more tests

Whether you are your class’ valedictorian, an average achiever, or a student who struggles in school, chances are you don’t like taking tests. Unfortunately, for the students at Quince Orchard, all over the county, and throughout most of the country, the testing appears to be never ending. 

With vocabulary quizzes, reading quizzes, pop quizzes, open note quizzes, content quizzes, unit tests, county tests, formatives, summatives, AP tests, HSAs, final exams, SATs, ACTs, and more, there is definitely no shortage of tests that students are expected to take at a seemingly constant rate. If you’re not studying for or taking one of these tests, you’re getting the results back from the last one you took.

 Most teachers, when asked about the importance of testing, would probably say it’s a necessary procedure to ensure that their students are retaining the information that they are being taught in class. But can one test, one score, really prove a student’s capacity to learn? I would argue that it can’t, especially when most teachers neglect to take into consideration that low test scores can be attributed to more than just lack of knowledge. 

Students are subjected to enormous amounts of stress and pressure every single day. Most of the students I know at Quince Orchard and other schools around the area come home to hours and hours of homework and studying every night. And that’s after grueling and time-consuming sports practices and extracurricular activities. There is a higher than ever expectation to get into the best programs at the best colleges, while there is a lower than ever acceptance rate into these top schools and universities. Teens are well aware of how crucial it is to do well in school and the stress can often be overwhelming. And when teachers add, “Study for summative assessment next Friday” to a student’s long list of assignments, projects, and other tests, it seems as though they are just fueling the fire of academic pressure.

The stress factor aside, many believe that the increase in testing has hurt the institution of education. In recent years, it has become increasingly important for schools to show that their students are smarter and more academically capable than students of other schools. How do they show this? Through standardized testing, of course. When students do well on tests, it indicates that the teachers are doing their jobs and the school gets rewarded. Whether it is having bragging rights to say that they have the highest test scores in the county or being mentioned as one of Newsweek’s or US News’ top 100 schools in the nation, schools benefit from the test scores of students. With this in mind, many teachers have adopted the philosophy of “teaching to the test” meaning that they are limiting the content of their classes to strictly what their students will be tested on. This narrows the curriculum of a given class and restricts what students are actually learning.

Probably the most stressful aspect of testing is SAT and ACT testing. Students’ scores on these tests can ultimately determine what path they will take after high school. Colleges have placed a gargantuan emphasis on how high or low an applicant’s test scores are. Often, a student’s SAT or ACT score is what either gets them accepted to or rejected from a college. Seniors, juniors, and even some forward thinking underclassmen are all too familiar with the burden of preparing and then taking these tests. Students attend SAT and ACT classes, hire tutors, and practice online or with mock tests, sacrificing time and money in the process. And once the preparation is complete, the actual testing begins. Almost no one takes these tests just once. Students take them over and over again, trying to generate the best scores that they can possibly achieve, and knowing that without almost perfect scores, the likelihood of getting into their dream colleges will be low. 

Is it fair for a college to assess a student’s aptitude simply from looking at one test result? After working hard, getting good grades, and being involved in extracurricular activities, is it acceptable that a student who didn’t score high on one test, might not get into the college of their choice? Is it logical that four years of hard work is not as important as four hours of taking a test?

I’ll admit that the debate over whether test taking is an accurate way of measuring students’ comprehension and intellect is a bit aimless. The truth is that despite the increasingly popular opinion that test taking has become exorbitant and senseless, there isn’t much of an alternative. It is essential for schools to be able to assess the abilities of their students. Likewise, it is necessary for colleges to have something that is standard throughout the country to judge their applicants. And even the people who disagree with all the testing have yet to come up with a better solution.

I don’t completely disagree with the idea of testing to determine what students have learned and what they are capable of learning. Along with thousands of students who withstand a countless number of tests every week, I only wish that teachers would consider the demanding pressures that we face everyday by being students in a society where a simple test score is used to determine our futures.