I am a senior in high school, so throughout my educational career I have taken many standardized tests. Most students just receive their scores after they take a test but they are not able to do any actual learning from it. This raises the question of how can you learn if you don’t know what you got wrong? The article, “What’s Wrong with Standardized Tests,” by the anti-testing organization Fair Test, discusses how most teachers don’t even use results from standardized testing. Standardized test results aren’t helpful for the student and aren’t utilized by many teachers so how are they actually helping to improve the education system? 

In “15 Reasons Why Standardized Tests are Problematic” Thomas Armstrong discusses how standardized testing can affect teaching styles too. Armstrong states that some teachers teach for the test and not for the students’ general understanding. This resonated with me because I have had a mixture of classes throughout my education and had teachers who taught for the test. But I have learned more and the information I learned stayed with me longer from teachers who don’t teach for the test but for general understanding. When teachers teach for a good understanding of the material it helps students like myself to gain knowledge instead of just memorizing random information. 

Another problem with standardized tests is the type of questions that are asked. Standardized tests often ask questions about random material that students find a hard time remembering. This results in poor test scores. Fair Test points out that people’s brains don’t respond well to the types of questions that are commonly asked. People do a better job of applying their knowledge with their critical thinking skills. Many students, like myself, get good grades yet may perform poorly on standardized tests. This is partially because standardized test questions don’t require the student to apply their knowledge through critical thinking. 

In the article “Standardized Testing is Still Failing Students,” Cindy Long offers a solution to this problem. This solution is called performance-based testing, it tests your knowledge by having students perform a task or create a response. Performance-based testing makes students apply their skills in situations that are closer to real-life scenarios. 

I understand that standardized tests may be a helpful tool that school districts use to evaluate students; however, there are many changes to be made. If we stick with the current test model, at least questions and answers that students get wrong should be accessible after the test is over so students can learn from their mistakes. Teachers should also use test scores to know what concepts need to be reviewed more in class, meaning they would also need access to actual questions and specific student responses. 

But, if we want meaningful tests that reflect and create meaningful learning, the state should adopt performance-based testing that helps each student showcase their abilities.