The worse that American students do on standardized tests, the greater the push there is to de-emphasize them.
Think there might be a connection?
This week, ACT, the nonprofit company that administers one of the two major college admissions tests, reported that high school students’ scores in this country fell for the sixth straight year. The average composite score of 19.5 out of 36 is the lowest it has been in more than three decades.
Although certainly there was a learning loss in the schools that can be attributed to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it should be noted that the ACT score was falling before the virus arrived and it continues to fall even after the worst of the pandemic has passed.
Meanwhile, there is a growing trend among U.S. colleges and universities to make admissions tests optional or even disregarded. They are bowing to the criticism that standardized tests favor the wealthy and put low-income students at a disadvantage when it comes to getting into the nation’s more prestigious schools.
Statistically, there’s no refuting that on average, children from poor backgrounds score poorly on standardized tests such as the ACT. That, however, is not a reflection of testing bias. It is a reflection that these children are sadly handicapped by home environments in which education is not highly valued and by elementary and high schools that have low standards.
Instead of throwing out the tests and dumbing-down higher education to accommodate the deficiencies of incoming students, our nation should be focused on the harder job of addressing the root of the problems at home and in school.
Standardized tests are an objective measure for gauging how well schools and families are doing in developing the academic potential of their students and their children. Grades are not. Grades hinge heavily on the standards of the schools and of individual teachers, which can vary tremendously. Grades can be skewed — and are skewed — by the pressure put on American educators to keep most everyone happy.
Without the sanity check that standardized tests provide, students, families and entire communities can be hoodwinked into thinking the students are learning more than they really are.
