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| Cartoon girl sitting at a desk throwing her pencil down |
to the fourth grade if they do not score proficient in reading. This idea came from the idea that students may be behind due to covid, but this is an added stress to teachers, students, and families. Students in first and second grade are now taking practice standardized tests to help prepare them for the first year they count, in the third grade. In years past, teachers did not want to alarm their students or make them anxious about the test, so they just encouraged them to do their best and said that it did not count for anything. Now, teachers have to tell their eight and nine-year-olds if they do not reach proficiency, they will have to redo the third grade.
Standardized tests, in my opinion, do not show how well students learned this year. They show how well students are at taking tests. Many students, including myself, developed test anxiety from standardized tests to the point where they could not take tests during the regular school day. Teachers learn throughout their school to become a teacher that every child is different and learns differently. How do standardize tests show that? They do not show students as individuals with different abilities and strengths. In the regular classroom, teachers prepare accommodations daily for children who may be developmentally behind, but the state's standardized tests do not do that. They may make time accommodations, but the test is the same for all. The TCAP, TNREADY, and the ACT should not be deciding factors in what schools a child gets into or if they should move onto the next grade level. Some universities have given grace for test scores, but the state should continue to use standardized tests in elementary schools as data.
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