The Value of Standardized Testing?

One of the questions I am most asked is, “How do you know your child is learning what he/she needs to know?” Another way of putting this question (and what the asker really means)is, “How do you know your child is keeping up with the children in public school?”

My gut reaction (which I suppress) is to ask a question in return: “Is that really what I want for my children?” Instead I have always assured the individual that I am a cool homeschool mom. While I don’t have to, I do check what my children are learning against a variety of scopes and sequences of various curricula. I also tell the person that about once a year I go to the Texas Education Association (TEA) website to check on things and give my daughter some published versions of their standardized tests, just to see how she’s doing.

I will say such things no more after what happened with this week’s tests. I SHOULD have learned my lesson two years ago when I gave her the 10th grade Social Studies test and she passed it with an A+. She was 10 years old at the time. The first question was: Who was President of the United States during the Civil War. NO KIDDING!

So now, on to this last week’s tests. My daughter is learning Algebra this year. (For those curious, we are using “Elementary Algebra” by Harold R. Jacobs ) So, I decided to give her the TAKS 9th grade math test. It was difficult, she did need some help understanding the test (as she doesn’t ever do multiple choice here at home – you do it until it’s right.) She got a 75% on the test. Since she hasn’t even finished the book yet, I was well pleased. It was an excellent learning experience for her. She had to work, think, and was able to see where she will be headed next in her math career.

Here’s the kicker: According to the information we could find (and it was difficult) her score would put her in the top 15% of 9th graders! She’s only of 7th grade age! Well, good for her! Not everyone can do this and she certainly has academic areas where she struggles-same as everybody. However, then I started looking at what these test scores mean for schools’ ratings.
As evidenced by the chart on this website: http://www.scuc.txed.net/PDFS/Accountability/2007districtratingtable.pdf , for a school to be “Academically Acceptable”, the majority of it’s test taking students must receive between a ~50% (45-60% depending on subject is a passing grade) and a 70% on the TAKS. This is pitiful! So, when I look online and see this rating, I say to myself, “Gee that school has students who made between an ‘F’ and a ‘C’ on THE main test of the year.”

For a school to be “Recognized”, it’s overall scores must be between 75% and 90%. Great. This school has ‘C’ and up students. Okay, we’ve all gotten a ‘C’ at least once.
My point is twofold: 1) As you can see by the requirements of passing this “great standardized test” my child being at grade level is NOT my major goal in my homeschooling. Also, I strongly suspect that in general, these ratings cheat the students and teachers of these schools. Is 50% and up the best we can hope for when education is mass produced? Is this a case of quality goes down when quantity goes up? (Though, I have to say that if a school cannot even achieve the “Academically Acceptable” rating, I would be a very nervous parent sending my child to school there.)

In a final note, we gave my daughter the 11th grade exit exam in English and she SMOKED it! So, we’ve decided to just focus on making sure she has the skills she needs to take the PSAT and SAT; the test that will count for something. Knowing how to take tests is a skill even after school. I’ve taken one math and two overall intelligence tests for various jobs I’ve held.