Making The Case for the Abolishment of Standardized Testing
In the first week of March, Collegeboard, the organization responsible for the creation and distribution the standardized test known as the SAT, announced a fundamental rethinking and subsequent reorganization of the standardized test that has been used for college acceptances for generations. The SAT, which used to include three sections composed of writing, reading, and mathematics, and would subsequently penalize students for being wrong, is now being reformed to realign with work being taught to students in today’s high school classrooms. Changes to the SAT will include omitting the penalty for wrong answers, cutting obscure vocabulary words from the examination, and making the essay portion of the test optional, which would bring the test back to a grading scale of 1,600 points, rather than a three part test graded on a 2,400 point scale, each part consisting of a maximum of 800 possible points.1
Last year alone, the number of students taking the standardized test known as the ACT surpassed those of SAT takers by 2,000 students.2 The ACT, a test designed to incorporate science, math, and reading sections for a total of 36 possible points, was noted as a more appropriate test in regards to following the typical high school curriculum. In other words, more people were inclined to take the ACT over the SAT, because they believed it better embodied what they were being taught in school. The article written on the reforms being made by Collgeboard to the SAT compared the ACT to the SAT, stating “the SAT has lost ground to the ACT, which is based more directly on high school curriculums and is now taken by a slightly higher number of students”.1
The SAT and ACT combined standardized tests are created as a means of gauging a students ability to perform in their first year of college. The better a student performs on the tests, the more likely they are to succeed in their first year of college. Not surprisingly, there is also a strong correlation between a student’s standardized test score and the colleges they are likely to be admitted to. Looking at the chart seen on the left, grades in college prep courses, that is, high school and grade school, were ranked the most important factor for college admissions. However, standardized test scores came in a close third in regards to the most important factors influencing college admissions, following the strength of a student’s curriculum. What this means is that colleges and higher educational institutions and universities still put an extremely large emphasis on standardized test scores when making their college decisions.
While the SAT and ACT standardized testing system are a means of gauging a students ability to perform in an academic setting to some degree, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to create one single test to encompass the curriculum and understanding of all students across the nation. While standardized testing may be impossible to ban entirely due to the diversity of educational systems and higher education institutions throughout America, it is important that these tests be created in some fashion as to prove equal in their ability to judge any individuals knowledge. If, however, it’s proven that measures can’t be taken to ensure a more equal test, then the next step forward must be to determine whether to eliminate standardized testing or find a way to place less emphasis on test scores during the college admission process. Make a stronger case for elimination. Tests don’t actually tell us anything, so no amount of reforms made to the test will fix the problem of accurately gauging a student’s knowledge. Messes with secondary and higher education
The Financial Drain of Standardized Testing
One of the key issues that standardized testing brings to families across the nation, apart from the apparent stress of college acceptance, is the financial strain. Kaplan test prep services and other testing companies average $1,100 per class, while private SAT and ACT tutors can charge anywhere between $100-200 dollars an hour.4 It is estimated that two million students spend on average a total of $2.5 billion a year on standardized test prep and tutoring.2 Not only this, but between test fees, late registration fees, cancellation fees, and personalized score reports, the test itself can end up costing anywhere between $50 to $100 dollars. However, paying for test prep at this point in time is not only worth it, but necessary, simply because the competition is doing it.
The reality of the situation is, though, that all this money is spent on test prep so that in the future, the parents can pay for the real education, and rack up serious debt thanks to college tuition payments. This is when standardized testing becomes almost a double standard, as families that can’t afford to pay for the tutoring are put at a severe disadvantage for lack of test prep and subsequent risk of not having adequate test scores for college admissions, while those that scavenge to pay for tutoring are then faced with the next financial problem of trying to pay their college tuition bill. In studies which controlled for parental income and education, the results showed that the SAT was not accurate in predicting freshman GPA, implying that “if you’re rich, you can buy your kids a higher SAT score”.5 The solution to the problem here, then, would be to eliminate standardized testing entirely, in order to get rid of the financial disadvantage that people may encounter when paying for standardized testing prep and private tutoring.
The Division of Class Status: What Does It Mean To Take the SAT?
In an effort to abolish the SAT entirely, Charles Murray, a man who’s SAT’s scores got him into Harvard, argues that the SAT, which is supposedly designed to help colleges and students predict their freshman grade point average, was proven to have no affect on predicting freshman collegiate performance. The SAT, who’s initials stand for “Scholastic Aptitude Test”, was meant to measure aptitude, defined by the dictionary as “inherent ability”.5 Murray argues that nowadays, the SAT is not at all accurate at gauging a students aptitude, but rather places emphasis on a student’s background and financial situation. Murray argues that, while the SAT helped him in the 1960’s to be recognized as a man with potential from an unknown town, the SAT in modern society is “slanted in favor of privileged children—“a wealth test,” as Harvard law professor Lani Guinier calls it.”5 Nowadays, the SAT is not accurate at measuring a student’s knowledge and ability to perform, but rather a measure of how much money a student can spend on test prep, or an education focused on preparing students to take the test for college admissions. If you have a lot of college bound students, you can shape the curriculum to teach to these tests.
The Consequences of Pressure of Performance
Not only has the SAT been proven to be ineffective in gauging college freshman performance, and is known to have a bias in the areas of the socioeconomic and educational background of students, the pressure to perform on tests has pushed students to extreme measures outside of excessive payments on standardized test prep. Pressure to perform well on the SAT has lead teachers to replace good teaching practices with a “teach to the test” approach. That is, SAT’s have led to “declines in teaching higher-order thinking, in the amount of time spent on complex assignments, and in the actual amount of high cognitive content in the curriculum”.6 This teaching method has been proven to lower the amount of critical thinking being done in high schools and universities throughout America. Aptitude and achievement tests among high school students has also lead to an increased rate of cheating amongst high school students, with 59% of high school students polled admitting to cheating on one of these tests within the academic school year.7 An SAT cheating scandal involving dozens of high school students was even exposed in early 2012, in which 15 students were accused of paying individuals between $500 and $3,600 to take the test for them, prompting Collegeboard to make it a requirement that students bring their ID’s to future administered tests.8 In addition, standardized testing causes severe stress in younger students, as the “Stanford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it.”6 In this case, the requirement of standardized testing is proving more of a disadvantage than advantage to student performance and sanity, and students and educators alike are oftentimes left under pressure to enhance their performance and score rather than simply showcase their critical thinking capabilities.
What should be done?
Students are always told that the key to success involves critical thinking, communication, and leadership skills. From studies shown on the effectiveness of SAT and ACT scores, standardized testing does not only fail at predicting an individual’s freshman grade point average on their entrance to college, it demonstrates a lack of critical thinking and subsequent increase in a “teaching to the test” mindset. Not only this, it causes an increase in cheating and stress amongst teens, and has given rise to a lot of financial troubles for families who believe that the only way to guarantee a place at a well respected institution is to perform adequately on standardized tests, which almost only comes from adequate test prep tutoring. However, from what jobs and employers claim they seek from individuals coming out of institutions, such as leadership, communication and critical thinking skills, that money and time invested in preparing students to take standardized tests would be better spent getting students involved in extracurricular activities. This would allow students to invest their time in something their passionate in, and allow them to gain the vital social skills necessary in the working world. Today, society does not ask you how well you performed on your SAT, but they are more inclined to ask you what you are passionate about and involved in, and how you showcase your knowledge outside of the classroom setting. Because of this, colleges and universities should place less emphasis on standardized tests, and more emphasis on being involved outside an academic setting, as it is those activities which allow students to gain the social and communication skills that are vital for a leadership or employment position in the workplace.
More anecdotal evidence: wealthy communities performing better.
What to write about:
3. provisions being made: where do we go from here?
4. other forms of standardized testing
Endnotes:
1Lewin, Tamar. “A New SAT to Realign With Schoolwork.” New York Times [New York]
5 Mar. 2014, Education: n. pag. Print.
2 Briody, Blaire. “SAT Tests: Another Drain on the Family Budget.” The Fiscal
Times 1 May 2013: n. pag. Print.
3 Kanslea, Megan. “College Application Data.” College Admissions Statistics 2011.
Student Advisor, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://blog.studentadvisor.com/
College-Admissions-Statistics-2011-An-Inside-Look-INFOGRAPHIC/>.
4 “Do SAT Prep Courses Really Help?” The College Helper. The College Helper, n.d.
Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://www.thecollegehelper.com/
do-sat-prep-courses-really-help>.
5 Murray, Charles. “Abolish the SAT.” The American. American Enterprise
Institute, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://www.american.com/archive/2007/
july-august-magazine-contents/abolish-the-sat>.
6 “Standardized Testing.” Pro-Con. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
<http://standardizedtests.procon.org>.
7Kulow, Jane. “Looking at the SATs: Prep, Cheating, Why Take Them Anyway?”
College Admissions. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
<http://drstrangecollege.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/
looking-at-the-sats-prep-cheating-why-take-them-anyway/>.
8 Anderson, Jenny. “SAT and ACT to Tighten Rules after Cheating Scandal.” New York
Times [New York] 27 Mar. 2012: n. pag. Print.