Standardized Testing

About a month ago, I received my score of the two available tests that are used to gauge high school students’ “college readiness”, and it wasn’t the SAT. I took the October ACT, and like any standardized test I have taken, it was certainly no fun. More than a million high school students take the ACT each year, and each student goes through four hours of tiring testing. I’m certainly no advocate for standardized tests in general, but I do see their purpose. The ACT is an exam used by most colleges to help them make admissions decisions. Grades, G.P.A., availability of activities and extracurriculars of students are all relative to what school a student goes to. The ACT, however, establishes one common criterion that can be used to compare all applicants, transcending this variability. Standardized tests focus on important basic skills that all students need to master. Even so, how well this test represents the students is a question that’s worth considering.

There so many variables that determine students' scores that create a system that's not entirely fair. First off, one well known problem is that standardized tests favor those who are high in socio-economic ladder. Money can get you special resources such as books, online practice tests, and even special tutors. All these resources will help a student better prepare and as a result, achieve a higher score. Furthermore, these students who don’t have the money typically go to schools in a low socioeconomic area. These schools receive less funding than the rich private schools and this once again leads to fewer resources and less preparation. There is a clear socio-economic gap that gives way to an uneven playing field, a field that companies such as the CollegeBoard and ACT inc. ironically seem to be against.

Standardized tests don’t value creativity, a vital skill in the “real world”. Standardized tests adopt a multiple-choice format where there is one, and only one, correct answer. You’re either right or wrong. Today, our world needs people who can invent things, come up with new and clever solutions to problems. Standardized tests also, as we all know, create stress. We all handle different amounts of stress differently so again, there isn’t a level playing field. When stress becomes too overwhelming, the brain shifts into a “fight or flight” instinct. At this stage, it's really hard, if not impossible, to engage in the higher-order thinking processes in order to correctly answer the test questions.

An interesting thing to note is if you take a look at PISA scores, you can see Finland topped international rankings, and Finland doesn’t use any external standardized tests to score and rank their students. I’m not saying that America should abolish the use of standardized tests altogether and follow Finland's lead, but maybe the emphasis and importance that these tests currently have should be significantly reduced.