Lmj20’s Proposal

For my research essay I will be examining if standardized test scores are truly indicative of a school’s performance. In the United States, K-12 education as of recently has been dominated by high stakes standardized tests. These tests are often used to generalize not only student intelligence, but also school and teacher quality. While many believe this is a fair basis since standardized tests are equal across the nation, there are many other aspects that this group fails to consider. Availability of resources, testing bias, and socioeconomic factors all play a role in making standardized tests not so equal.

As the United States continues to reform national education plans, standardized testing should be a way to start. It is hard to believe that one standardized test could be used as the factor that decides how successful a student, teacher, and school is. The intense high stakes that are put on standardized testing show the system’s lack of value for education on a day-to-day basis.

Sources:

Standardized Testing: Harmful to Educational Health

The Essential Content of the Article: This article, instead of merely stating that standardized testing is harmful, breaks down each specific reason that standardized testing is not as standard as believed. The beginning of the article cites specific research studies that show flaws in the standardized testing system such as test validity and testing bias. The end of the article researches how standardized testing impacts schools and students.

What it Proves: My thesis is that standardized testing isn’t truly indicative of student and school performance and this article points out the specific flaws that make testing a bad indicator. This source does not delve deeply into each flaw, but will allow me gain enough knowledge to do more research. This article also provides great research about the harm that high-stake testing does to schools.

How Standardized Is School Testing? An Exploratory Observational Study of Standardized Group Testing in Kindergarten

The Essential Content of the Article: The entire article is dedicated to one study where 10 kindergartens were observed while administering the “same” standardized test. The conditions and behaviors in each individual classroom allowed the researchers to conclude that the tests, although meant to be standardized, were actually incomparable.

What it Proves: This article provides a credible study that displays that standardized testing is not always standard. This will be used as evidence to support my thesis that standardized testing is not a good indicator of school and student performance. Since the tests are not as equal as they seem, shown in this study, it shows that it is not a strong factor to use to compare schools nationwide.

The Impact of Standardized Testing on Minority Students

The Essential Content of the Article: The article researches three types of bias in standardized testing: bias due to content factors, bias due to norms, and bias in testing conditions. The purpose of the article is to highlight the unfairness of standardized testing on minority students and how it will affect them throughout their life. The bulk of the article is spent citing specific research and adding more detail to support the claims made in the beginning.

What it Proves: The article highlights a clear problem in the standardized testing system. Minority students are at a clear disadvantage and this article provides the information needed to back up that claim. Since minority students are not on an equal playing field, this helps support my thesis because standardized tests cannot be a strong indicator of school and student performance if they are not fair to everyone.

Why Standardized Tests Do Not Measure Educational Quality

The Essential Content of the Article: The article is devoted to backing up the central claim that using standardized tests to measure school quality is like measure temperature with a tablespoon. The article argues that when they were invented, the mission of standardized testing was to evaluate what skills that students possessed at certain levels. This knowledge was then meant to be used to modify curriculum to better fit the desired skills. Therefore, it is completely wrong to use standardized testing to rank schools when its purpose is to improve schools. The article uses real questions from past standardized tests to emphasize the flaws and biases within the system.

What it Proves: This article, instead of just focusing on today, goes back into the history of standardized testing. This will allow me to demonstrate a rise in importance of testing and show how that has harmed schools. It also proves, by using actual questions from tests, the biases in standardized testing. This knowledge will allow me to better back up the idea that testing cannot be an accurate indicator of success. The tests were never meant to evaluate school quality, but rather to improve curriculum.

Standardized Tests Do Not Effectively Measure Student Achievement

The Essential Content of the Article: This article examines the idea of “student achievement.” Many would define student achievement as a student’s success on state tests, however the author urges that tests fail to reward students for many important characteristics. Creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, curiosity, resourcefulness, and enthusiasm are just some of the many vital characteristics that standardized tests do not measure. These characteristics are undeniably important to have yet a child’s achievement can be judged without even considering them.  The article also argues that standardized testing promotes shallow thinking students. Students are urged to seek out the quickest and most obvious answer when taking these tests and therefore deep thinking and problem solving is not measured either.

What it Proves: This article provides an interesting perspective on standardized testing. While the other sources are primarily focused on the flaws within the tests and in testing conditions, this sources focuses more on what the tests lack. This article proves that the word achievement is very complex, especially when it comes to schools and students. Standardized tests, on the other hand, are not very complex. The whole purpose of the tests are to be standard and simple. Therefore, it is hard to define something that is complex using something that is standard. Student and school achievement is so much more than the score of one simple test.