Focus on standardized tests reduces college readiness
Owen Rust
Owen Rust teaches economics at Midland High School.
In today’s education environment, high schools seem caught in a balancing act. Because of state and federal mandates, high schools have an incentive to graduate as many students as possible. High schools are encouraged to increase academic rigor, while simultaneously trying to keep parents and students reasonably happy. This often leads to accommodating classroom distractions such as cellphones and creating generous retake, redo and exemption policies for assignments and tests.
With the soaring cost of college tuition — which The New York Times reports has nearly quadrupled over the past 35 years — school districts have an obligation to ensure that students who likely will have to take out student loans are well-prepared for higher education. Graduating an unprepared high school student and shuttling him or her off to college can mean thousands of dollars are wasted on remedial classes, having to retake failed classes and taking extra classes that do not count toward the major.
I worry that state and federal obsessions with graduation rates and standardized test scores are harming college readiness by reducing teacher autonomy, critical-thinking skills among students and the importance of mastering a broad range of material. While I agree that some standardized tests are needed at the secondary level — such as the current five STAAR tests — I worry that concentrating on such tests removes the focus from long-term academic success.
When high school becomes test prep for only a handful of standardized tests, students are not being prepared for the true rigors of higher education. Students should be expected to take final exams in all courses and not be exempt from them for merely having good attendance or for meeting state expectations on standardized tests. While many high school students, particularly seniors, feel stressed out and want to relax at the end of each school year, college does not allow for this.
In college, final exams can make or break a student’s course grade. There are no retakes or redos. If a student fails, he or she must pay to retake the entire course. There is no credit recovery at a state university.
The state, by focusing heavily on STAAR EOC exams, has reduced teacher autonomy and the ability to prepare high school students for college life. The worst part is that today, with the sky-high cost of college tuition, being underprepared can cost many thousands of dollars. While statistics at the secondary level may look better, what about future student debt statistics? What about college graduation statistics? Policymakers must acknowledge that in today’s environment, high school is the path between primary school and higher education. State legislatures and boards of education cannot pretend that high school graduation is the end-all.
To educate the leaders of tomorrow, we must put in the extra work today, even if it means short-term statistics that aren’t quite so rosy. Passing the buck on college readiness today means our young citizens lose thousands of bucks tomorrow in lost tuition.
Owen Rust teaches economics at Midland High School.
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