Why Do Students of Color Have Lower Reading Levels
EXPLAINED: What Are Standardized Tests and Why Do We Need Them?
Laura Waters is a mom, didactics writer and former school board president in New Jersey, As the daughter of New York Urban center educators and parent of a son with special needs, she writes frequently about the demand to heed to families and ensure access to skillful public school options for all. Full profile →
Few education topics get parents, teachers, and school leaders more than riled up than discussions about using results from student tests to mensurate the quality of state education systems, districts, schools, and sometimes even teachers. But what exactly are standardized tests, what are they used for, and why are there so many of them?
What makes a test "standardized"?
A exam is standardized when all the students taking the test have to reply to the same set of carefully selected questions. This allows people who expect at the results to brand comparisons among groups of students. Questions on these tests tend to be multiple choice or truthful-false because that raises the chances that results are fair and objective, with less possibility for bias or favoritism in scoring the answers.
The procedure of creating a standardized test and interpreting the results requires a lot of different expertise in curriculum, kid development, cultural and linguistic differences, statistics and a field of report called psychometrics.
Why practise students accept to take so many tests?
When you think nigh it, standardized tests are part of our lives and have been for a long time. When yous have a baby to a doc, they assess the babe'south health past using a "standardized" checklist: How does the baby's weight compare with others the same age and are they coming together developmental milestones? When you apply for a driver's license, your country motor vehicle bureau requires yous to take a standardized test to see if you know the rules of the road. When you apply for citizenship, yous take a standardized test to see if you understand the nuts of American governance.
Besides, standardized tests are extremely useful for educators and their institutions to gauge progress and come across the needs of students. For case, one-half of U.S. states require a kindergarten readiness test. When students utilize to higher, they ordinarily have the ACT or the Sat (although some colleges are now dropping this requirement in the involvement of making admissions more equitable). If you lot want to go to law school, you take the LSAT. If you want to go to medical school you have the MCAT. There's even a test called PISA used by 79 countries that allows comparisons betwixt national educational activity systems. (In 2018, the U.Due south. ranked 13th in reading and 36th in math.)
All the same, there tin can be too much of a good thing—including too many tests. That'due south because the assessments your kid takes over the school year serve different purposes. For instance, a teacher might give a social studies test to come across if students have absorbed the material he's taught in that unit; this allows him to check if there's a demand for review. A principal might determine to test all the students in a course if there'south been a blueprint of lower proficiency in math; this allows her to ensure the instructional materials are working or if teachers need additional preparation. Some schoolhouse districts use standardized diagnostic tests several times a year to drill down on what individual students are learning, like NWEA'south MAP tests or Curriculum Associates' iReady tests. Also, federal law requires states to test students in grades 3-8 in one case a year in reading and math, plus one time in high school.
Why is the federal government involved in standardized tests?
While America has some wonderful schools, we've struggled for a long fourth dimension to enhance achievement levels. In 1983 a bipartisan grouping of educators and officials wrote a report chosen "A Nation at Risk" that remarked, "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it every bit an human activity of war."
Not much has changed. Tom Loveless, an education expert, says, "What surprises me is how stable U.South. operation is [on PISA]. The scores have always been mediocre."
Another standardized examination given to representative groups of students (called the National Cess of Educational Progress or the "Nation's Report Card") finds that two-thirds of children are non practiced readers.
America's lagging status behind other beginning-world countries prompted the federal government to start mandating standardized tests in order to meliorate educational activity and learning. A 1965 police force chosen the Simple and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which tied extra funding for disadvantaged students to land compliance, was reauthorized in 2003 as the No Child Left Backside Human action (NCLB). For states to exist eligible for that actress federal funding, they had to annually appraise student learning through standardized tests (grades 3-viii and once in high school). They as well had to report out test results of historically-neglected groups, similar students with disabilities, English-language learners, and low-income children. Each group—every bit well as schools, districts, and states—was supposed to meet a benchmark called "Adequate Yearly Progress," or AYP.
Why are standardized tests so controversial?
They didn't used to be controversial! But they became so when the federal government got involved and American educators and leaders became concerned about the higher and career-readiness of loftier school graduates.
Many point to No Child Left Behind equally the moment that standardized tests became controversial. Sometimes transparency is painful—those examination results quickly showed enormous gaps in proficiency between students of colour and their white peers, for instance.
In response, we started taking student accomplishment—and the gaps in accomplishment between rich and poor kids, Blackness and white kids–more than seriously. Instead of merely filing results away, states began using the test results to evaluate the quality of schools, districts, state departments of education, and fifty-fifty teachers. This led to a series of questions:
- Why is this school turning out kids who do poorly in math while this other school's students are math wizards?
- Are the textbooks at fault?
- Is information technology the principal?
- Is one schoolhouse supporting teachers better than the other school?
- Does ane school accept more homeless students or more than students with disabilities or more English-linguistic communication learners?
In some cases, teachers and administrators felt unfairly attacked. Parents sometimes were unhappily surprised to come across that their children weren't learning as much as they thought. There can be a perception—sometimes true—that standardized tests are used to unfairly punish beloved teachers or administrators, or that the test results are denying students coveted opportunities, similar access to specialized schools or programs.
An example of the overly-intrusive nature of NCLB was the absurdly ambitious goal of 100% proficiency past the 2013-2014 school year. In response, states lowered standards and made tests easier to laissez passer so they would yet receive federal funding. Additionally, NCLB placed unrealistic demands on schools serving loftier-needs communities, and led to what many educators described equally a toxic civilisation of "drill and impale" test-prep that took much of the joy out of school and learning.
For these reasons and more, in 2015 the police force was reauthorized once again, and No Child Left Behind became the Every Student Succeeds Human activity, which pared back the federal function by removing almanac benchmarks and adding flexibility for states to make up one's mind how to hold themselves accountable.
Only states still have to share private district and school exam results with the public in society to shine a light on which schools are doing right past students and which are falling curt. With this information, the hope is that we tin raise achievement levels across the land, peculiarly for historically underserved students.
Are standardized tests racist?
America is aggress by structural inequities and one of the near unsafe and pervasive inequities is racism, which leaks into all aspects of life, from poorly maintained homes to sub-par medical care to food insecurity to fewer resource for schools that serve students of color. Standardized tests are no unlike: for instance, a century agone an American psychologist named Lewis Terman erroneously and offensively claimed that I.Q. tests showed that African Americans, Spanish-Indian, and Mexican people were non as intelligent every bit white people.
There are other means tests tin can be biased. There was a famous example in the 1990s when an SAT question asked for the best analogy between "runner" and "marathon." The answer was "oarsman" and "regatta," vocabulary that might only exist familiar to wealthy teenagers. This was a prime number instance of socio-economical bias.
But standardized tests can likewise be a mode to overcome inherent bias. When teacher perceptions are the sole criteria for student access into gifted and talented programs, Black and dark-brown students tin be overlooked. Research shows that when standardized testing is used instead, more students of color are selected for accelerated learning.
Meanwhile, testing companies have initiated programs to create tests and learning materials that are culturally, racially, and socio-economically sensitive. For example, in 2021, Pearson, a major textbook publisher and standardized testing vendor, published editorial guidelines addressing race, ethnicity, equity and inclusion.
Standardized tests can indeed perpetuate racial inequity and organization racial bias. Even so without them, we're at the mercy of subjective assessments. That's why the National Urban League led a coalition of civil rights, social justice, disability rights, and education advancement groups to urge U.S. Didactics Secretary Miguel Cardona to require states to maintain their schedules of standardized testing during the coronavirus pandemic. They wrote,
To understand the effects of the COVID-19 crunch and ensure that this pandemic does not undermine the futures of students across the country, we must collect accurate, objective, and comparable data that speaks to the quality of didactics in this moment, including information from statewide assessments.
What do standardized tests have to practice with civil rights?
Civil rights has long focused on issues of equity and equality. In the world of education, disinterestedness ways there are systems in place to ensure that every kid has an equal chance for success, regardless of their family income or the color of their pare.
There are many ways to meet that these aspirations remain unrealized. But standardized test results are ane of the clearest and almost compelling indicators that civil rights advocates can use to testify the glaring inequities in our current education system.
One case: A report by brightbeam found that in San Francisco, 70% of white students are proficient in math, compared to only 12% of Blackness students, a 58-signal gap. This pattern—white students vastly outperforming Blackness students—is rampant in many parts of the land and underscores America's claiming of raising accomplishment and infusing disinterestedness into our schools.
If you want to see the gaps in how your state and/or city is serving students of dissimilar races, visit Why Proficiency Matters, an easy online tool for revealing racial proficiency gaps (sometimes called "achievement gaps").
In order to narrow these vast disparities nosotros demand standardized assessments. They provide a clear way to measure out how well our school systems serve kids well-nigh at risk. The information we get from those tests gives states and schoolhouse districts the data they need to create more equitable systems.
This practice is right in line with the goals of the ceremonious rights motility: to give all students equal educational opportunities and protection under the law, regardless of race or religion or income level. That's why everyone from this instructor in Kentucky to Michelle Obama to Presidents Bush-league, Obama, and Trump call education the about of import ceremonious rights issue of our time.
Why does the federal authorities want united states to examination every child? Can't nosotros merely test a sample of kids to run into how a school district is doing?
We already exercise that through the so-called "Nation's Report Menu," which is given every other twelvemonth to a sample of students in each state. It's very useful! Just kids not tested by NAEP can autumn through the cracks and NAEP doesn't give us the detailed data on an private student's proficiency available from more focused and inclusive tests.
Importantly, NAEP has no consequences for poor performance. It is meant to exist a dipstick on the overall academic health of our land, country by state. This ensures that the results are genuine and comparable.
So how do we make certain states and districts actually work to improve the teaching they provide for underserved students? That'due south where the federal government comes in. Afterward all, our current national instruction law is called the "Every Pupil Succeeds Act," not the "Some Students Succeed Act." According to this law, if a state has too many students who aren't meeting expectations in math or reading, and then the federal regime requires that state to identify districts, schools, and particular groups of students who need more support.
If states only tested a portion of kids, there would be no reliable fashion to place which schools and districts demand to improve. More importantly, there would exist no reliable way to place which marginalized groups of students weren't getting the level of back up and educational activity they required to thrive. That's why each state must set ambitious goals for students to abound academically—fifty-fifty those who are farthest backside—and study out the progress fabricated towards those results, broken downward past race, income, and disability.
And how are these schools or districts or groups of students identified? Through standardized tests. Certain, no examination is perfect. Just when looking at a huge system, you can only see general trends. It's easy to say, "all our kids are fine," even when some of them aren't.
Can nosotros really trust these tests to give an accurate measurement of student learning?
No unmarried test can measure a single student's proficiency in math and reading. That's never been the claim, and is why we don't apply state standardized assessments for your child'south report card grades, for example. Just these tests tin can await at different groups of students within a schoolhouse and assist school leaders acquire which students are struggling or whether instructional changes need to exist made.
In the education policy world, this idea of requiring schools to brand improvements when the standardized testing data shows they are underperforming is called "accountability." And it is a vital component to civil rights. We must recognize the problem and then accept activity, whether yous're speaking of Rosa Parks sitting in the whites-only section of the bus or education activists in Nashville who are addressing a literacy crunch where 7 out of ten 3rd graders tin't read at class level.
Permit'due south say your kid'due south elementary schoolhouse gives all 5th graders the state reading test and discovers that this group is performing more than poorly than last year'due south fifth graders. Is that because there are more students this year with learning disabilities? Were there too many snowfall days? Did the district just implement a new reading plan that perchance is slowing achievement down? Are teachers not receiving as much guidance every bit they had in previous years? Did the school enhance class sizes last yr and so that students aren't getting more attention?
Results culled from standardized tests tin narrow down the reasons and, thus, point educators towards the correct solutions. Without the test, teachers and parents wouldn't know there was a problem. If you can't recognize a problem, you lot tin't solve it.
Equally Katrina Miller of Educational Partnerships explains,
We must overcome the fright of data in instruction. Having every bit much robust data as possible only helps us improve understand educatee needs. Doctors order full bloodwork for a check-up and so they have a picture of how the whole homo organization is working. We need this same mindset in education.
I trust my child'due south teacher to know when my kid is having bug. Why stress him out with a examination?
Our teachers definitely accept groovy intuition nigh student progress. Just teachers have to work within a much larger organisation that they can't control. It's really hard to go big institutions—like school districts or even country education departments—to make changes, especially when those same institutions take been under-serving the aforementioned groups of children for generations. Changing those systems requires the hard statistical show provided by standardized tests.
It takes difficult work to improve systems. And even though your child may exist fine, there'due south a lot riding on our national efforts to heighten the levels of academic achievement for students who have long been failed past our schools.
What impact has the COVID-19 pandemic had on standardized testing?
Many people hold that forcing kids to take tests during a plague-ridden year would be pointless and even cruel. Indeed, early in the pandemic, the Trump administration allowed states to waive all spring standardized tests for 2020.
The following year, many expected the Biden Assistants to practice the same thing, since big numbers of students were nevertheless learning remotely and schools had struggled all year to keep pace with learning. Nonetheless, the Biden administration heeded the concerns of ceremonious rights and educational justice groups, requiring that states continue testing, precisely because it was such a challenging year and then many children would have fallen backside.
However, states received tremendous flexibility in how and who they tested in 2021, so in truth, we are losing ii years of data. This no doubt produces huge obstacles for districts that seek to diagnose the effectiveness of their schools and curricula, and removes a critical tool from the advocacy toolbelt of the civil rights sector.
What are the opportunities for activism?
- UNDERSTAND the tests kids are taking and why.
Get an informed consumer. Data is power. In order to advocate effectively, y'all must understand the purpose of particular tests and how your school will use the results. Is information technology to bulldoze instruction? Is it to measure land trends? Is it to fulfill federal regulations?
Under the Biden Administration's American Rescue Programme, states volition dissever up $125 billion for K-12 schools to help students grab upwards afterwards a year of school closures. Ane of the strings fastened is your state has to come up with a plan to assess student progress during this pandemic year. No hiding from learning loss! We need the data in society to create plans that will accost the crisis. So go to schoolhouse board meetings and write or call your legislators, enervating that your land's assessment programme for 2021—whether it be using substitute tests, delaying the usual state tests, or using shortened versions of tests—exist implemented with integrity, a focus on serving students and families, and a fearless quest for authentic information.
- SHARE the bulletin that standardized testing helps uphold ceremonious rights.
Even if you are unconcerned most your ain child'due south progress, recall that without standardized testing we wouldn't be able to mensurate the proficiency gaps that highlight vast inequities within our public education arrangement. Our schools are failing to justly serve big groups of children; in this sense, supporting standardized testing is function of the piece of work of ensuring child justice. Undertake initiatives to raise your customs'due south comfort level with testing and their understanding of its powerful role in promoting educational equity.
- Push your state, district or schoolhouse to make standardized testing better.
Electric current standardized tests, while vital for improving learning gaps, are stuck in the Stone Age. In gild to minimize the time and money spent on assessments, land education systems demand to invest in innovating our testing infrastructure. The technology is there to automatically course essay questions but we don't use it. The applied science is there to customize test questions to individual students' level of proficiency but nosotros don't use it. The technology is there to turn effectually test results within 24 hours merely we don't use information technology.
Activists can demand their land leaders invest in innovation to make tests less stressful and more useful for students, teachers, parents, schools and states.
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Source: https://educationpost.org/what-are-standardized-tests-and-why-do-we-need-them/