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Standardized Testing is Causing Children to Fear Learning


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    So there's not really any science behind what I'm about to say. This is more of something that I've just been a bit curious and frustrated about for a while now. I've been watching how standardized testing and the common-core curriculum has been affecting kids for around 7 years now. I've had countless conversations about how the programs and tests work with numerous teachers. All in all, I think they might hurting kids much more than helping them.

    To start off, I understand that standardized testing was introduced to help spot children that need help in specific areas. There's nothing wrong with that at all. It's good to know what level the kids are at and be able to use that information to guide them along. It's also a good thing that the tests provide guidelines for the curriculum. Kids needs guidance and a good educational structure, and this seems to help with their overall learning process.

    But here's the bad part.

    Standardized testing causes loads of stress for kids. Students get overwhelmed with pressure with these tests and what they represent if they fail. But the biggest issue for me is that the teachers end up having absolutely no choice but to teach for the test, not for the students. To be clear here, I'm not saying teachers are not wanting to teach as they should. I'm saying they are slowly but surely not able to. School districts are getting out of hand with their demands that students pass these tests, thus putting extreme amount of pressure on the teachers to teach the tests. That leaves very little time for the teachers to be able to teach the students anything else, which unfortunately cuts out stuff children should be learning in school. Also, exhausted teachers don't have the normal energy needed for when teaching 20+ 3rd graders. It all trickles back down to the kids.

    I'm not saying that either program is completely bad. But I hope we can all agree that not all kids should be learning the exact same thing. Not all teachers should be teaching the exact same thing. And driving children and teachers to the point of exhaustion over and over throughout the year to make the district's test score look good is an absolutely ridiculous concept for how kids should be educated or teachers should be treated. I'd be really interested to see studies performed to find out exactly how these rigorous testing schedules are affecting children and their future. I believe if we keep this pattern of standardized testing over and over throughout the year that kids are going to end up fearing learning itself, thus society as a whole will suffer in the long run.

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    Well said. These tests shouldn't be as big of a deal as they are. Seems like teachers know the only thing that really matter is the results of these tests at the end of the year. And that seems like a slap in the face to all their lesson plans and things the kids legitimately learned throughout the rest of the year.
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    Cosmic Kid Wrote: Well said. These tests shouldn't be as big of a deal as they are. Seems like teachers know the only thing that really matter is the results of these tests at the end of the year. And that seems like a slap in the face to all their lesson plans and things the kids legitimately learned throughout the rest of the year.
    Agreed. I just remember what it was like cramming for a test. My head was full of knowledge just before hearing "you may begin". But it was all but gone not long after hearing "pencils" down. I definitely think that this has a serious impact on knowledge retention.