In this blog post I would like to address factors that affect standardized test performance. These are factors that the students can not control and can affect their test scores. One website (found here) describes that the classroom or school environment can negatively affect the students, such as overenrollment, poorly funded schools, and uncertified teachers. If a classroom has too many students, there is maybe not as much individualized attention or differentiation for students. Poorly funded schools do not have as much access to materials, resources, and technology that can enhance learning as schools that are highly funded. Some other causes of lower scores are ESL/ELL students and students with learning disabilities. ESL/ELL students might misinterpret questions or not be able to complete essays. Students with learning disabilities could range from a student having difficulty concentrating for an extended period of time to a student who has trouble reading.
Another website (found here) discusses testing room conditions (is it too hot? too cold?, etc.) and if the student had a good night's sleep the night before. I remember when I took the SAT and ACT, I was always overly conscious of the other test takers around me. Were they faster or slower than me? Did they seem to be struggling on a question too?, etc. The rooms were stuffed full of students with the desks very close together. I am sure that many other students did not sleep well the night before due to nerves or anxiety. Also if a student ate breakfast or not can affect the scoring. The tests can lasts several hours and if a student skips breakfast they could be thinking about a meal rather than about math, reading, or science.
Works Cited:
http://www.fairtest.org/dangerous-consequences-highstakes-standardized-tes
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1403
Standardized testing is a huge topic lately. I completely agree with the fact that there are conditions out of the student's control that can negatively affect their scores. Even if they did get enough sleep and ate a good breakfast, they could run into the problem of having a really bad cold (which happened to me when I had to take the Praxis I). In my placement, students are taking test to practice the correct way to behave during the WKCE standardized test. They are not allowed to get up for anything, even a kleenex or to sharpen a pencil, so if one of these problems occur and the student is not prepared for it, it could result in a lower score. Not to mention that some students have test anxiety and are unable to perform even if they know the content.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very important and controversial topic and one that still needs to be addressed in our school system. There are many factors that affect a student while testing, the test alone is an issue, but the environment can be considered one as well. More importantly you have to take a look at the student and what barriers he/she might face. You bring up some great issues and ideas of what should be the focus for our goverment when considering standardize tests. I know this is a subjec that every teacher cares about and can control alot of our futures. Thank you for bringing attention to it!
ReplyDeleteColleen,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why standardized tests are so controversial. Some countries like Japan do not nationally test their students. The major difference is that they have a national curriculum with textbooks written specific to that curriculum. The Japanese teachers would actually be offended if a standardized test was required. They know they teach the standard and their students do well. Japan does; however, have college placement tests which are designed to weed out students. In the United States, we have to have standardized testing because we do not have a national curriculum. Each state sets its own standards, which before the 1990s, was not even the case. How else can we monitor what our students are learning in school? Not every student does well on tests, but the testing provides a snapshot in time which can be used to better our standards and to provide incentives to the schools that appear to be "doing it right."
This topic is something we are going to have to talk about for a long time. Standardized testing does not seem to be going away anytime soon. There were two points you brought up that really stuck out to me. They were how well the children slept because they knew they had a test coming and if they ate breakfast. These are important points because they are outside factors a teacher can not control. It would be interesting to see just how well students do sleep before standardized test and how stressed out the test can make them.
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