Opinion
Assessment Letter to the Editor

Test Emphasis Crowds Out Crucial Life-Skills Training

September 10, 2013 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

High-stakes testing is causing unforgivable harm to young people. It’s also doing harm to good teachers who are compassionate enough to teach students who enter the classroom with math, reading, and writing skills that are years below grade level. Test results are closing schools that have been a second home to their students.

The quality of teaching is compromised when teachers are haunted by anxiety over the influence student test results will have on their own performance evaluations (as mandated by law).

It is only natural that teachers are overly influenced by the tests that our students take, because the fate of an entire school now rests on those results.

Before high-stakes testing became law, the typical high school taught keyboarding (formerly typing), home economics, shop, and auto repair. Schools need to teach life skills again—without the gender bias this time. We still need to honor and respect the myriad other skills that are needed in this society, such as creativity, teamwork, communication, compassion, and dedication. Technology skills such as coding are being neglected because they are not easily tested.

The solution is cutting back on testing. Lawmakers must limit the impact of testing so that no more than a few days per school year are spent on testing. It is unfair that our public school students lose significant instructional time to testing, while students in private schools are exempt from those requirements and receive more instruction as a result.

We also need to change the way that testing data are used so that they become measures of student growth rather than standardized measures of passing or failing.

Students who show improvement from year to year should be viewed as succeeding, even if they don’t meet a set “pass” score.

Tahnee Kirk

Special Education Teacher

Central High School

Phoenix, Ariz.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the September 11, 2013 edition of Education Week as Test Emphasis Crowds Out Crucial Life-Skills Training

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Assessment Download 6 Ways to Curb Grade-Change Requests From Students and Parents (DOWNLOADABLE)
No one likes dealing with grade-change requests. Here are some tips to help teachers avoid them altogether.
1 min read
Close up of a schoolgirl showing her C- grade on a test at elementary school.
E+/Getty Images
Assessment Opinion Our Grading System Was Setting Students Up to Fail—Until This Change
Our first reaction to standards-based grading was despair. Then, slowly, things began to change.
Matthew Ebert
5 min read
A student climbs up stairs as letter grades fall around her. In the background a teacher is grading a test.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
Assessment In Case You Missed It: How Schools Are Measuring Student Success
Explore stories about grading practices, what truly reflects student achievement, and more.
5 min read
Grading and assessment SR
Robert Neubecker for Education Week
Assessment Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Standardized Testing & Improving Student Outcomes?
Answer 7 questions about improving standardized testing and student outcomes.