Do Standardized Tests Work?
Five Nicolet students earned perfect scores on the ACT, which is one of the last standardized tests many students take. The tests are used to evaluate students' academic performance, and the success of teachers and schools. Is that right?
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Five students posted perfect ACT scores at Nicolet High School, something accomplished by fewer than one-tenth of 1 percent of the more than 1 million students taking the test each year.
Thousands of college-hopeful Wisconsin seniors take the test each year, and the state's students consistently beat the national average score.
The ACT and SAT are the final standardized test many students take. Colleges use the results to help decide which students get accepted, and which are rejected. Throughout a student's academic career, standardized tests provide a snapshot of his or her knowledge and skills. States are increasingly using these test scores to evaluate overall performance of schools and teachers.
But there's an argument making the rounds these days that schools are over-using tests at all levels (from kindergarten through high school), and that tests don't actually predict a student's ability to learn or perform.
Do you think test scores are the best way to evaluate student performance? Vote in our poll below or tell us in the comments.
Dave Koven
11:13 am on Saturday, March 9, 2013
Congratulations to the students who aced the ACT and the outstanding teachers that make Wisconsin one of the top performing educational areas in the country. If the schools are over-using standardized tests, it is because the taxpayers in the various communities want them to. This is the downside of local control. Just because you pay taxes doesn't mean you are an expert in education. Unfortunately people tend to "glom" onto whatever the latest educational fad of the day is. Test scores are, as stated, a "snapshot" of how a student is performing at a given time. It is no more representative of a whole student's life/abilities than an actual photo would be of showing how good or bad looking they will be twenty years from now. At best, it shows that a student is capable of learning at a particular moment in time. The same student who passes a test on one day could fail the same test due to any number of factors on another day (e.g. illness, trouble at home, etc.). Some are later bloomers than others. You'd hate to deny a chance at higher education to someone who doesn't find out their true calling until later in life. In reality, first and foremost, colleges are the most interested in who can pay their tuition. College is a business after all. A good education is expensive. Schools should not be assembly-line type experiences. There really is no "one size fits all" kind of education.