Oregon State Board of Education
255 Capitol St NE
Salem, OR 97310
Dear Mr. Jerome Colonna,
As a recent high school graduate from Bend, Oregon, and a college freshman, I am writing to convey my concerns on the recent addition of the Smarter Balance Standardized tests to the Bend- La Pine District’s high school curriculum. From my experience as a high school student, entirely too much time is spent on standardized tests, from the OAKS and Smarter Balance to the SAT and ACT. The many different tests are overwhelming. Some are required for college applications and others for the state and district. Both my main cause of stress and my least favorite part of high school were these tests. None of these tests helped me learn; instead they took away from time in the classroom, such as my English class which had to spend about two weeks total preparing for the ACT and the OAKS tests.
I am not the only person who has been negatively affected by standardized tests though. Thousands of students suffer different consequences of the standardized tests. One of the downsides of continuous testing is an increased amount of stress in students. For example, stress on the famed Standard-9 exam is so common that the test comes with instructions on what to do when students vomit during the test. What makes matters even worse is that these tests can only test a small portion of a student’s education. According to education researchers, such as Gerald W. Bracey, PhD., these tests cannot measure a student’s “critical thinking, creativity, discipline, or persistence”, among many other attributes.
In addition, the increase in standardized testing has not raised our country’s overall skill level in reading, writing, or the sciences. From 2002 to 2010, the US dropped from the 18th to 31st in the world in reading, and sustained similar drops in science and math as well. The National Research Council has shown that there is no hard evidence to show that standardized tests have raised the level of education and knowledge in our country. It is clear that these tests are not helping the education of students.
However, I do realize that it is difficult to simply change what tests or the amount of tests schools in Oregon and the country must take. I understand the need for tests in our country, but the number of tests students take nowadays is over the top. With the addition of the Smarter Balance Test, high school students are now taking up to 4 tests during the last years of high school, not counting the amount of times students retake these tests. To curb this punishment, I propose an effort to reduce and combine the tests students must take. If the school system could find a way to combine the different tests, such as the OAKS, Smarter Balance, and ACT, into one test, students’ educations would be greatly improved. And allowing this test to satisfy both state and college requirements would considerably alleviate students’ workloads and stress levels in high schools.
Overall, the overload of standardized tests facing high school students today clearly reveals the need for states, such as Oregon, to reduce the examinations students must take to satisfy state and college requirements. Since this is not the type of change that can happen overnight, I would greatly appreciate if you, Mr. Colonna, could help me spread this message across the state and country through the Oregon State Board of Education.
Thank you very much for your time. Sincerely,
Damon George