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It's Not a Memory Test; Education Needs to Focus on Critical Thinking
We're in the middle of finals season, and students are beginning to prepare for their exams by making lists, writing flashcards, and memorizing facts. High school education has evolved from learning to memorization, promoting answering rather than comprehending.
A majority of students are focused more on obtaining good grades rather than understanding the concepts that are being taught. When school systems prioritize the importance of grades over education, students are likely to resort to cheating.
Since I have been attending school, achieving and maintaining good grades has always been my top priority. In elementary and middle school, I had no trouble reaching the goals that I had set out for myself. When I entered high school, material became harder. I spend more time memorizing facts and equations rather than studying or learning the concepts. When given a lab or a critical question, I have difficulty coming up with an answer because I had never fully grasped the idea. Learning through experience, a student is less likely to be engaged in topic if they know they can memorize facts and never critically think.
In recent years, standardized testing has becoming increasingly more popular, and in public education, funding is often given to schools with the highest standardized test scores. According to the Washington Post , students between kindergarten and 12th grade take roughly 112 standardized tests.
Since the basis of questions on standardized tests are multiple choice and promote memorization, students can memorize a series of facts and be able to spit them out for the test; afterwards, the information that was memorized will quickly be forgotten. These tests typically lack any form of critical thinking. Teachers are more likely to teach information that will appear on these tests, and this reduces the quality of the education that a student receives.
I have seen many students turn to cheating in order to avoid failing or getting anything lower than an A. They feel pressured to achieve good grades even if it means using unethical methods. Teachers commend their high tests scores, but they do not realize that the grades were achieved unfairly.
According to the Open Education Database , a study done at Fordham University found that the average GPA for cheaters was higher than that of non-cheaters. Good grades are being valued higher than an honor system.
How do we solve this issue? The evaluations that teachers give us could include more critical thinking questions. This would mean that less multiple choice questions should be given and more analysis of data, readings, and case studies.
Critical thinking is what is lacking in many high school education programs. Learning these skills now would make college an easier transition, and standardized tests could be given less frequently.
Learning and fully understanding a concept will help us come up with more creative ways to solve problems, and we will be able to apply the concepts in other situations, and combine new knowledge with what we already know.
Memorization does not help you completely grasp the idea or give you the ability to apply the concept to another problem. If a person memorizes the definition of a word, but they cannot use it in a sentence, they do not truly know the meaning of the word. Memorization will always play a key factor in the education system, but the idea that it is more important to understand the concept should be emphasized.
Caty DuDevoir is a regular contributor to Raise Your Voice. She is a student at Cheverus High School in Portland.
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A Critical Look at Standardized Testing
Janelle cox.
- October 25, 2024
If you’ve been a teacher for a while, you already know how much standardized tests shape everything from what you teach to how you’re evaluated. These tests seem to influence how you prepare lesson plans, so you may feel pressured to “teach to the test” rather than foster a love of learning. As the conversation around standardized testing grows, you may find yourself asking, “Is it helping students or harming them?” Here we’ll take a closer look at the impact it has on education, its limitations, and the potential for policy reform.
The Impact on Education
Standardized testing has been a part of education since the mid-1800s when it was first introduced in the United States, then gained traction with the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, says the National Education Association (NEA). Initially, standardized testing was introduced as a tool to measure students’ knowledge and skill sets fairly.
The idea behind it was to provide a benchmark that could be used to compare all students regardless of their school district or state. However, the pressure to perform well on these tests has made many teachers feel they need to “teach to the test”, focusing in-class instruction on test-specific content and skills rather than fostering deeper understanding or critical thinking. This shift has led many school districts to narrow or even eliminate subjects like art and music in favor of test preparation.
Additionally, the pressure attached to standardized testing creates a stressful environment for both teachers and students. Teachers worry their job depends on how well their students perform on the test, while students deal with test anxiety. According to a report by the Noah Webster Educational Foundation , many students don’t perform well under pressure which doesn’t mean they don’t know or understand the information, it just means their test anxiety may alter their academic performance. As for teachers, the report added that teachers feel the added pressure forces them to shift their focus on test preparation because they feel their job is at risk if their students don’t perform well on the test.
Perhaps one of the biggest issues about standardized testing is its impact on underprivileged students. Research shows that students from low-income backgrounds tend to perform worse on standardized tests due to limited resources and biases in the way the tests are designed. This creates an unequal playing field, further widening the gap between privileged and underprivileged communities.
The Limitations of Standardized Testing
A major flaw in standardized testing is its inability to capture student’s abilities fully. The main focus of these tests is on core subjects like math and literacy. They fail to test a student’s ability to problem-solve or think critically. They also don’t address skills like how creative a student is or how well they collaborate and work with others. Moreover, they don’t account for individual learning styles. All students process information differently and these tests are designed as a one-size-fits-all approach. So, students don’t get the opportunity to showcase their true abilities.
Another limitation of standardized testing is that teachers have the mentality that they must “teach to the test” to be safe in their jobs. This means that the focus is on memorization and rote learning rather than having students work collaboratively, think critically, or become innovators. Teachers feel they need to check the box to ensure their students will pass the test instead of focusing on giving them an enriching and dynamic learning experience.
Additionally, the tests do not offer timely feedback, and the results are usually returned months after the school year has ended. This means that teachers are unable to use the results to help students improve in specific areas or alter their teaching methods.
Policy and Reform
Considering the limitations of standardized testing, it is apparent that reform is necessary and that with clear changes we can better meet the needs of all students. To begin, the National Education Association (NEA) suggests that test scores should be one of the many tools that are used to help evaluate schools and teachers. They argue that rather than using these scores to penalize schools they should focus on providing adequate funding for struggling school districts.
Another avenue for change could be to have students demonstrate their knowledge and skills through projects or presentations. By doing so, students would be able to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in a more comprehensive way and showcase their creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
Lastly, many argue that teachers should be involved in policy discussions since they are the ones who are directly impacted. They have a deep understanding of how their students learn which makes them a valuable resource to know how to best assess them. Involving educators can help to create a supportive education system that will benefit not only students but will foster a more effective learning environment.
Standardized testing falls short of providing an equal and comprehensive measure of student learning. It does not fully capture students’ abilities and teachers often feel they need to “teach to the test” to secure their jobs. However, by including educators in policy reform, and reducing the stakes that are attached to standardized testing, we can create an education system that values all students’ abilities and prepares them for the modern world.
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