State testing is the time of year that students dread the most. Is all of this worry even necessary? State tests are mandatory tests in Ohio to measure students' progress towards Ohio’s Learning Standards. Are state tests pointless? According to Education Advanced, most students do not think state tests are necessary or important to them. In some students' eyes, state testing is unimportant to them, but some teachers believe they hold value.
State testing is important to teachers in many ways. According to Education Advanced,
“Standardized testing creates a baseline for measuring student performance among districts, and aids educators while developing their curriculum.” These state tests have a lot of positives for some teachers and administrators, including establishing a universal educational standard, demonstrating student progress, and ensuring all teachers are held accountable for their own teaching. Teachers and administrators can also use these tests to see what topics students are struggling with.
Teacher, Mr. Dougherty shared, “I believe that some form of assessment of knowledge is necessary to get accurate data on school and student performance. However, I think that the current process may be a little out of touch with the realities of the classroom."
Teacher, Mrs. Kerpsack also shared, “I think tests help to measure where you are, but they are not a completely accurate depiction of what you can do. They are necessary to make sure you are learning the material set by the state.”
While there are many positives to these tests for some teachers and administrators, there are also many negatives for them and students. Some downsides to state testing, according to Education Advanced, are that the tests are very unpredictable and do not measure students' performance well. These tests may have a negative impact on students and the curriculum of the tests is very narrowed towards only the standards of the state.
According to a recent poll sent out to students at Lowellville High School, 2.2% shared state testing makes them feel happy, 40% shared state testing makes them feel sad, 53.3% shared state testing makes them feel scared, 73.3% of students said state testing makes them feel tired, and 88.9% shared state testing make them feel stressed.
Student, Kenzie McCormick shared she thinks there should be a requirement to make sure students are meeting necessary learning standards, but does not agree with one big test to meet these standards. Another student, Joslyn DelSignore, shared she thinks state testing is unfair because some students are not good at testing.
As you can see, many people have very diverse opinions on state testing. Many teachers according to Standardized Advanced think state testing is helpful. Students at Lowellville find these tests unnecessary and unfair, being that some students are not good at testing and others are.
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