Anything but Standard – STORIES FROM SCHOOL AZ
It’s the most frightening time of the year. The sun starts to shine as I’m driving to school in the morning. Some of my favorite lessons are taught during the spring. Being an avid hiker and explorer, my weekends are full of new adventures as it warms up here in Northern Arizona. However, it is also time for standardized state testing.
It has always felt weird to me, even when I was a student in Arizona, that we take standardized testing. Being a straight A student for most of my life, the anxiety I felt before taking these tests was absolutely insane. It felt like this huge ordeal for a single test. I always wanted to do my best on them, but did I ever see anything from it, other than just the results?
Now as a teacher, I consider the data that results from the test and the timing of the data. Is the data reliable and valuable to my practice? My time spent in college really showed that standardized test scores were just one very small piece of the larger whole of the student. By the time we receive the data from the tests, the students have moved on to the next grade. Is this data truly necessary? What does it really show?
Was the student sick that day? Did the student have a family who helped to get them ready in the morning? Is the student motivated by doing well on a standardized test? Does the student have accommodations that were actually met by the state testing? Does a school “teach to the test” and therefore receive higher scores? Is standardized testing equitable? There are so many factors that could result in invalid test scores from a single test on a single day.
So why do we do it? Do we actually get any usable data from it other than what the state deems important for “letter grades” and funding? I’ve seen so many sources say that the data helps teachers see where their students are. But what do we really see from one test that is usually written in such a way that distracts students from correct answers and causes unnecessary anxiety?
My science classroom is full of data and I’ve always been a self-proclaimed data nerd with my amazing sister-in-law and teacher Marissa. She helped me to see the value in spreadsheets and seeing where students are each day. Formative assessment scores fill the pages of my paper grade book that I then enter into the digital world. Then I also add the results of their summative assessments and look for patterns and growth. I’m able to see who I need to pull back into a small group or when I need to reteach an entire concept. It is this data I take to meetings to discuss the student and what the student may need, not state test scores. It is this data that I use to reflect upon my own teaching practices and use for lesson planning.
Isn’t that data more accurate than a one day test where I can’t even encourage my students to try their best and I have to pace around the room silently? What is the true purpose of standardized testing if our students are anything but standard?
Lisa Barnard
Lisa Barnard is a 6th-grade science teacher in the city of Flagstaff. She has experience in both elementary and middle school settings. This will be her 11th year of teaching and she loves inspiring a joy of learning in her students. She also mentors university students who are interested in becoming teachers. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University, she went on to also get her masters in Elementary Education with a Reading Specialist Endorsement. In her free time, she enjoys landscape photography, reading, collecting fossils, writing, and hiking around Arizona with her husband Nick and their two dogs.
