OBAMA: Education and the Role of Standardized Tests

For those who know me personally, it is no secret that I feel passionately about education and I don't pass on many chances to share my views on education reform or my feelings on the weight of standardized testing. So, when I learned of President Obama addressing this topic, I was intrigued to say the least. I think he's got the right idea...as he should considering he is the President. For the full article, click here.

I think that many people attack standardized tests altogether, but I instead desire to focus on the weight of performance on certain standardized tests. I think that they can be excellent measures of certain characteristics, but I undoubtedly believe that too much rests on test results...for both students and schools. It has been my experience that schools being held to certain standards of achievement on standardized tests make the test the #1 priority for teachers...thereby making the curriculum less dynamic for the students and the overall education lacking. I have said time and time and time again...like a broken record-- the generations of students in grade schools in the United States today, will be competing in a global landscape for jobs tomorrow. The future of this country is at stake and education policy has to change. The systems that are in place are not working on a large scale...and that is understood. What must happen is major support for the things that are working on a small scale and even more support for innovation in education. Everyone seems to want to jump on a bandwagon behind one thing or the other... when we need fresh new ideas of how to best educate children for life success, whether that leads them to college, technical college, military, trade school, etc... It sounds cliche, but THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!

Although "college prep" seems to be the sound bite of choice for many urban schools at present. The real question is are the students going to graduate from college. If we take a look at the statistics, the dismal numbers of urban high school graduates that are accepted to college and matriculate are further depressing because recent statistics reveal that only about 43% of them graduate. Getting accepted to college is only the first step of many in college success. I think that the vast majority of "college prep" schools are not truly accepting the reality of these numbers while they are focusing teaching on standardized tests. The majority of their "high achieving" students are not finishing college, so that extremely focused "college prep" curriculum that trimmed out learning about what President Obama called, "the world" and "cultures" has, in essence failed the students.

Oh...but the students passed the standardized tests... isn't that what matters?


--As always, my standard is Author. What's yours?