Every year in the spring, students in elementary and high school have to partake in dreaded standardized testing. The pressure is felt even more by high school sophomores and juniors, as they are preparing to take their PSATs, SATs and ACTs, as well. No student enjoys these exams and no teacher feels properly evaluated by them. With the recent switch to the Common Core curriculum, the government has attempted to ensure that every student in the U.S. is learning in a way that will make them internationally competitive, but is this new method of teaching causing a strain on our teachers' ability to educate their students?
I was lucky enough to be a senior in high school when Common Core was implemented fully, so the change had little to no affect on me. I do have two younger sisters and a mom who is a high school teacher, though, so I see how this new curriculum has impacted students and teachers. I know many people are probably going to disagree with me on this, but I think Common Core is a great short-term solution to the international competition problems the U.S. is facing with primary and secondary education. Common Core aims for students to think critically about problems, rather than just memorizing facts and formulas. It aims to teach students how to apply what they are learning to real-life situations – something that many people feel is the negative aspect of formal education. I hear kids I went to high school with say, "I can't do my taxes, but thank goodness I know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell." Common Core curriculum will give students the critical tools they need to be able to figure out how to do taxes, make car payments and even calculate the correct measurements they would need if they wanted to adjust the serving size of a recipe. Common Core aims to teach kids logic, so they can apply it to their life.
Standardized testing is not the most effective way to evaluate teachers. Anyone with any understanding of student ability knows that. Every student has different abilities, and the way they perform on a single test should not affect their teacher negatively. Evaluations for teachers should be based on student engagement of the material and student understanding of the material. Student understanding should be based on something other than a test. As someone who freaks out over tests, I can tell you that I will often answer questions incorrectly that I did know the answer to because I become so nervous with the pressure of a test. Student performance evaluations would be a more fair assessment of a student's legitimate ability.
Nearly every high school junior will take either the SATs or the ACTs. These tests are incredibly long and in no way enjoyable. I honestly wish these tests would not exist because I think they create an unbalanced playing field for students who have worked very hard but perform poorly on exams. I know some students who have been accepted to universities that their grades would not qualify them for simply because their test scores were very high. I, personally, value hard work much more than a test score. When students with little-to-no extra curricular activities and average grades are accepted into a prestigious university because of their high test score, I feel like they are almost being set up for failure. Work ethic is something much more valued by employers, and I don't want to be that person who says college is all about being able to get a job, but if you have little work ethic, I am sure that you would not be appealing to many employers. Even if your ability is initially appealing, your supervisors will eventually get a clue and likely either attempt to alter your work ethic or terminate your employment.
In summary, the climate of standardized testing for college admissions should change. As well, assessment of teachers and students based on test scores should have a different approach. I'm aware that written evaluations and observations for teachers do exist, but the evaluations should be more thorough. Standardized testing is no way to judge a student. If you keep trying to teach a fish to climb a tree, he will live his entire life thinking he's stupid.
