Jesus A. Lopez
502 E Boone Ave
Spokane, WA 99207
September 19, 2015
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn
Old Capitol Building
P.O. Box 47200
Olympia, WA 98504-7200
Dear Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn,
As a recent graduate from the Washington state public school system, I believe standardized tests need to be re-constructed to fully benefit the students. Clearly, failing an exam a student has been preparing for a whole year, will set a child back as they redo a grade, or the child will continue to drown under the material they never fully grasped. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to pass all my testing, but according to Jonathan Kozol, author of the short essay The Road to Rome, these high risk testing environments are not for everyone. One child in particular who struggled to succeed in standardized test was Anthony from the South Bronx. Kozol describes this student as an avid reader and writer who struggled to sit still for a “bubble-tests.” This is somewhat disheartening because unlike the majority of students, Anthony actually enjoys reading and writing. Students are being tortured year after year with these standardized tests that make learning less about fun and more about memorization and obsolete skills that we only need to pass this year’s exam. When would someone in the real world outside school have to seriously write a two page paper on their favorite season of the year? The last time I had to think about this question was on my fourth grade WASAL exam. Of course this essay’s prompt sole purpose was not only to test how well fourth graders know their seasons, but to gauge how well students can form a sound and logical argument. I understand prompts need to be broad enough to connect with thousands of students, but why limit yourself to such ridiculous material. No one would ever seriously waste their time having to defend their opinion on the time of year, while our world or even more specifically our country faces conflicts such as economic breakdown, governmental controversies, and global climate change. Of course many fourth graders might not have even noticed our country recently went through a recession, much less know what a recession is, but instead of dumbing down material for students to understand, why not make an attempt to elevate the complexities of the content, creating well informed students.
Another issue that has always bothered me about standardized testing was its scheduling during the school year. Teachers spend a whole year prepping their students for these exams, sometimes even cutting recess from the daily schedule according to Kozol. If students are tested at the end of the year how are teachers supposed to know how well the students understood the lecture on forming a thesis, or solving for x. Well, with our current system, teachers and students will get another shot the following year when teachers re-teach the material, and students re-test their understanding of the content. These tests are targeting students to fail and ultimately drop-out. According to Kozol’s research, roughly 90 percent of children held back a grade eventually drop-out of school. This is why I propose a solution to give all students an equal opportunity. Standardized tests can be held at the beginning of the year to accurately measure what student understand or struggle with. Then, instead of using these scores to give bragging rights to the highest ranking schools, teachers could easily use the scores to focus their lectures on topics their incoming struggled with. This system will allow students to learn from their mistakes, instead of being punished by not understanding the content and having to repeat a whole year. This is just a suggestion, and of course testing at the beginning of the year should not count against the students because they have not yet learned the materials to be successful. Tests are tools used to give instructors insight of what their students comprehended from their lessons or prior knowledge, not torture sessions used to create anxiety for students, and single out those who might not have grasped all of the content. My father used to tell me, if I wanted to use one of his tools I had to know the correct method for using that specific tool. The same idea goes for tests, will we continue to hammer kids with content we expect them to know, blindly guessing at the preparation they had beforehand, or will we learn that to build skyscrapers, we need to first build a foundation.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read this.
Sincerely,
-Jesus A. Lopez
502 E Boone Ave
Spokane, WA 99207
September 19, 2015
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn
Old Capitol Building
P.O. Box 47200
Olympia, WA 98504-7200
Dear Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn,
As a recent graduate from the Washington state public school system, I believe standardized tests need to be re-constructed to fully benefit the students. Clearly, failing an exam a student has been preparing for a whole year, will set a child back as they redo a grade, or the child will continue to drown under the material they never fully grasped. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to pass all my testing, but according to Jonathan Kozol, author of the short essay The Road to Rome, these high risk testing environments are not for everyone. One child in particular who struggled to succeed in standardized test was Anthony from the South Bronx. Kozol describes this student as an avid reader and writer who struggled to sit still for a “bubble-tests.” This is somewhat disheartening because unlike the majority of students, Anthony actually enjoys reading and writing. Students are being tortured year after year with these standardized tests that make learning less about fun and more about memorization and obsolete skills that we only need to pass this year’s exam. When would someone in the real world outside school have to seriously write a two page paper on their favorite season of the year? The last time I had to think about this question was on my fourth grade WASAL exam. Of course this essay’s prompt sole purpose was not only to test how well fourth graders know their seasons, but to gauge how well students can form a sound and logical argument. I understand prompts need to be broad enough to connect with thousands of students, but why limit yourself to such ridiculous material. No one would ever seriously waste their time having to defend their opinion on the time of year, while our world or even more specifically our country faces conflicts such as economic breakdown, governmental controversies, and global climate change. Of course many fourth graders might not have even noticed our country recently went through a recession, much less know what a recession is, but instead of dumbing down material for students to understand, why not make an attempt to elevate the complexities of the content, creating well informed students.
Another issue that has always bothered me about standardized testing was its scheduling during the school year. Teachers spend a whole year prepping their students for these exams, sometimes even cutting recess from the daily schedule according to Kozol. If students are tested at the end of the year how are teachers supposed to know how well the students understood the lecture on forming a thesis, or solving for x. Well, with our current system, teachers and students will get another shot the following year when teachers re-teach the material, and students re-test their understanding of the content. These tests are targeting students to fail and ultimately drop-out. According to Kozol’s research, roughly 90 percent of children held back a grade eventually drop-out of school. This is why I propose a solution to give all students an equal opportunity. Standardized tests can be held at the beginning of the year to accurately measure what student understand or struggle with. Then, instead of using these scores to give bragging rights to the highest ranking schools, teachers could easily use the scores to focus their lectures on topics their incoming struggled with. This system will allow students to learn from their mistakes, instead of being punished by not understanding the content and having to repeat a whole year. This is just a suggestion, and of course testing at the beginning of the year should not count against the students because they have not yet learned the materials to be successful. Tests are tools used to give instructors insight of what their students comprehended from their lessons or prior knowledge, not torture sessions used to create anxiety for students, and single out those who might not have grasped all of the content. My father used to tell me, if I wanted to use one of his tools I had to know the correct method for using that specific tool. The same idea goes for tests, will we continue to hammer kids with content we expect them to know, blindly guessing at the preparation they had beforehand, or will we learn that to build skyscrapers, we need to first build a foundation.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read this.
Sincerely,
-Jesus A. Lopez