Taking standardized tests is boring, and seemed pointless to me as a student. By the time I got to high school, I was over it. I felt like I was forced to take these tests yet saw no kind of results from them. My school didn't get more money, I didn't get anything for doing well (or poorly), and I felt the data was used to track. Specifically, I felt the data was used to track students by race. I didn't want to be anyone's statistic. My teachers, my mother, and I all knew that I was at or above grade level. My grades were solid and I performed well in school. Why did I have to sit and stare at these booklets and bubbles for hours during these testing weeks. If it wasn't the STAR Test, it was the CTBS Test. If not that test, it was the CAT6, and then the SAT9. Before the STAR tests, we had the CAP, then I had to take whatever my district chose in the gap between CAP and STAR. Sounds ridiculous, right? I'm not making (any of) these up, and there are probably a few others that I forgot/repressed. Hours I spent, year after year, taking all of these tests. I dreaded them, and all the bells and whistles in the world couldn't mask them. Those dates were always marked on school calendars and we got reminders of how important it was not to be absent on those special days. I grew up in California schools, at a time, not unlike today, when the state education system was not something to be proud of. All these damn tests, and California's public schools ranked 47th in the nation. All these tests, and the dropout rate was above 40% (in the 90's). These tests didn't seem to be getting the state anywhere.
I was told that these tests were important because if your school did well then more money would be given in the future from the government. I went to a lot of different schools as a child. I changed schools exactly once a year between kindergarten and 7th grade, and attended two different high schools- so if anyone could do a comparison, it was me. I went to school on the west side, the east side, and the south side. Predominantly White schools, Latino schools, schools with large Asian populations, and schools with a decent number of Black students. It was CLEAR that the White schools had more money (surprised?). In 7th grade I had my mom change me from one school back to my previous school because I felt like I wasn't learning anything. How come my teachers were teaching me stuff that I did in 5th grade at more affluent schools? How come my school with all of the brown students was so....bad?
From 7th grade on, I began to take much more responsibility when it came to my schooling. I paid attention to the fine print, thought critically, and asked a lot of questions. I went to a high school with a uniform policy. One day, while reading our school issued planner, I read, in very fine print that under certain circumstances, students would not have to wear a uniform. What were those circumstance? Your parent coming to the school and saying that they didn't want that for you. If you were a "model student" and had good grades, they'd grant you a waiver. Guess who had a waiver the next year? I was one of fewer than 20 students who had a waiver in a school of 2,200.
As we prepared for end of the year standardized tests (not to be confused with beginning and middle of the year editions), one of my teachers was talking to us about the test and why it was so important. If you were absent you had to do makeup tests, so come to school. I asked "what if you don't want to take the test," my teacher responded that if your parent wrote a letter to the school asking that you be exempt from testing then you wouldn't have to take it. But in all of her years of teaching, no parent had ever wanted that. I went home, and asked my mom to write a letter to the principal because the tests were boring, stressful, and used to track students. I imagined adults in some meeting talking about how the African American students did compared to the White students, and how kids over here did worse than kids over there. I made the connected that ultimately, this resulted in schools getting different amounts of money. I surmised that this was how students got put into various classes. These tests determined who was gifted, who was remedial, and who should apply for Job Corps so that they could learn a trade. How come I had to fight the head academic counselor in order to get into honors English? And when she did enroll me in the class, it was on a "let's see how long this lasts" basis? All these things just didn't sit well with me.
Yes, the tests bored me to tears and frustrated me. I did simply want a "lesser evil." I also wanted answers to my questions, I was too weary of these various tests, which I never heard much about after I took them. I staged a quiet revolution. A revolution of one- that ended up angering quite a few teachers and administrators. In high school, teachers were upset because they had to develop work for me to do while everyone else was testing. They had to find a place for me to go and do my work. They didn't understand why someone as smart as me didn't want to take the test, because I'd do well. I chose not to explain myself or pose my many questions to them (because I knew they didn't have the answers), I just said "because I don't want to, and my mom doesn't feel I should have to."
If those tests are abominable to take, they are almost as awful to administer- I'd know, I used to be a teacher.
