Standardized Tests Take Away the Love of Learning
In March of 2009, the Alliance for Childhood conducted research on kindergartens, and the results were shocking. It was found that playtime in many kindergartens had all but vanished. Fun and games had been replaced by lessons and standardized tests (“Standardized Tests”). Standardized tests have become a regular part of school. Children are introduced to testing at a young age, and the tests continue throughout most of their school years, all the way through high school. The tests focus on reading and math skills, assessing and comparing kid’s scores to other scores from around the country. This method is meant to monitor learning and to find areas of weakness. However, standardized …show more content…
Experts are now beginning to comprehend this: “Today, cognitive and developmental psychologists understand that knowledge is not separable bits and that people (including children) learn by connecting what they already know with what they are trying to learn. If they cannot actively make meaning out of what they are doing, they do not learn or remember” (“What’s Wrong With”). Testing is making it harder for kids to learn. Kids can’t understand the tests, so they aren’t learning anything from them. This is not helping children in their education or in the long run. When kids struggle with learning, it becomes something they detest, not something they love. Since testing has become a main form of “learning,” they are the culprits of taking away the love of learning in children. Also, the methods of teaching in order to prepare for the test has only made things harder on kids. It is complained that, “Their use encourages a narrowed curriculum, outdated methods of instruction, and harmful practices such as grade retention and tracking" (“What’s Wrong With”). The preparation for standardized tests is brutal, and it uses harmful methods that affect students in negative ways. The “outdated instruction” and other harmful ideas that standardized testing brings to the classroom only makes things harder …show more content…
For example, educators and officials claim that new tests have better questions that will benefit children. PARCC is one of these new tests that is new and improved: “Unlike previous tests, PARCC assesses skills most important to 21st-century success, such as clear communication, critical thinking and problem solving” (Bobb). Standardized tests have been re-done and improved, with questions that encourage the use of skills that kids will use in the future. These changes are supposed to help kids learn by teaching them things they will use in the real world. One cannot deny that questions have been altered, however, standardized tests do not help children to learn. They actually decrease the love of learning in children. It is argued that tests have ”drained the joy from classrooms, fostering a testing fixation that critics blame for ills including narrowed curriculums and cheating scandals” (Layton). Standardized tests may be new and improved, but they still take the fun out of learning with hard core test prep, and of course, the tiring testing days themselves. The new questions won’t bring back the love to
In March of 2009, the Alliance for Childhood conducted research on kindergartens, and the results were shocking. It was found that playtime in many kindergartens had all but vanished. Fun and games had been replaced by lessons and standardized tests (“Standardized Tests”). Standardized tests have become a regular part of school. Children are introduced to testing at a young age, and the tests continue throughout most of their school years, all the way through high school. The tests focus on reading and math skills, assessing and comparing kid’s scores to other scores from around the country. This method is meant to monitor learning and to find areas of weakness. However, standardized …show more content…
Experts are now beginning to comprehend this: “Today, cognitive and developmental psychologists understand that knowledge is not separable bits and that people (including children) learn by connecting what they already know with what they are trying to learn. If they cannot actively make meaning out of what they are doing, they do not learn or remember” (“What’s Wrong With”). Testing is making it harder for kids to learn. Kids can’t understand the tests, so they aren’t learning anything from them. This is not helping children in their education or in the long run. When kids struggle with learning, it becomes something they detest, not something they love. Since testing has become a main form of “learning,” they are the culprits of taking away the love of learning in children. Also, the methods of teaching in order to prepare for the test has only made things harder on kids. It is complained that, “Their use encourages a narrowed curriculum, outdated methods of instruction, and harmful practices such as grade retention and tracking" (“What’s Wrong With”). The preparation for standardized tests is brutal, and it uses harmful methods that affect students in negative ways. The “outdated instruction” and other harmful ideas that standardized testing brings to the classroom only makes things harder …show more content…
For example, educators and officials claim that new tests have better questions that will benefit children. PARCC is one of these new tests that is new and improved: “Unlike previous tests, PARCC assesses skills most important to 21st-century success, such as clear communication, critical thinking and problem solving” (Bobb). Standardized tests have been re-done and improved, with questions that encourage the use of skills that kids will use in the future. These changes are supposed to help kids learn by teaching them things they will use in the real world. One cannot deny that questions have been altered, however, standardized tests do not help children to learn. They actually decrease the love of learning in children. It is argued that tests have ”drained the joy from classrooms, fostering a testing fixation that critics blame for ills including narrowed curriculums and cheating scandals” (Layton). Standardized tests may be new and improved, but they still take the fun out of learning with hard core test prep, and of course, the tiring testing days themselves. The new questions won’t bring back the love to