I ran across an image on Facebook just the other day that is titled “30 Things a Standardized Test Can’t Measure.” The picture then proceeds to list positive character traits such as resilience, passion, wit, faith, self-esteem, motivation, grit, effort, creativity, and more (a modified version of the picture can be seen with my article). I, of course, shared the picture on Facebook and gave out my thoughts on standardized testing, but as the days moved on, I really started thinking about the questions of standardized testing and teaching. The picture has many comments in support of what it has to say, but there are also people claiming that these types of traits can and have been tested in the past.

Sure, I agree with the picture. A standardized test such as the ACT or SAT can’t measure the amount of grit someone has. Simply because someone can’t score high enough to get a full scholarship to a good college doesn’t mean that they didn’t take care of their sick single-mother while working a part-time job and helping to pay the bills, does it? While teachers revolt against the tests, I can see it both ways. This is what is required of our students to make it.

College admission requirements are not changing anytime soon, and we all know that one of those requirements relies on a test score. If admission doesn’t rely on it, then the money to attend does: the higher the score the more money you will receive. Even if colleges made the change, how would they test a student’s determination or faith? What would be the test to make that happen? How would public school teachers be held accountable for teaching students these things?

While I feel that teaching students’ attributes like resilience and empathy and a sense of humor are indispensable to the act in preparing a student for successful citizenship, how is this something that is measurable? I think all good teachers instill in their students a little of each of these words that the picture presents – morals, courage, manners, and effort, just to name a few. We do it through our everyday interactions with our students, through modeling and living these words in our lives every single day. We ingrain these tiny, multi-colored, cohorts of letters into the minds of every kid who walks through our doors simply by being the people that we are.

Of course, are there some teachers who could care less? Are there some teachers who probably don’t instill these things? Live these things in their everyday lives? Believe we should ex-nay all standardized tests, so that their accountability is null and void? Sure. I would bet anything that those teachers exist…but in my heart, I don’t want to believe that they are real. I want to believe that those teachers are the “Wicked Witch of the West” – few, far between, and easily dispelled with a bucket of water.

While the question of accountability tests will always loom over the minds of parents, students, teachers, administrators, and I would certainly hope the politicians advocating for the education of our youth in America today, I don’t think it will be a question soon answered. As in most things, it has positives, and it has negatives. For now, it will remain the beacon of accountability for schools and their faculties, and it will remain one of the biggest deciding factors on the success of our students as they enter the all-encompassing “real world.” Whether or not that is a good or bad thing, I, personally, can’t say for sure, but I think that regardless of your opinion you should buckle down for the long haul with standardized testing.