All across America students walk into their classrooms, one by one, trying to figure out the rest of their lives before they even leave high school. They take each test as if it were their last, just trying to get a good grade. However, when it comes to standardized tests, it is a different story. Statewide standardized tests hold the power to pull students out of classes for two or more weeks, all to prove a point: teaching to a standard is not teaching to a student.

Students at AAHS are well aware of the controversy surrounding standardized tests. Since the mid 1800’s, standardized tests have been taken by students across the nation. On April 2, 2014, Sarah Garland from the Huffington Post stated, “Standardized tests have been the main way educators, experts and policymakers have measured the achievement gap between low-income and minority children and their wealthier, white peers.” Sarah Garland goes on, saying, “The tests don’t actually measure the skills we want students to learn.”

An Air Academy math teacher, Ms. Madden, was interviewed about her views on standardized testing. “Do you think the tests are aimed towards a certain social and or economical class?” She responded, “No, the goal is to level the playing field and measure kids against each other, but there are some inherent problems that run across the social economical line.” An anonymous teacher at AAHS when asked the same question states, “No, not on purpose. It’s just the way that they are written. It would be tough to write a test that goes for all social groups and students across America.” On the other hand, most would agree that almost all standardized test reinforce inequality in today’s school system.

The tests do not help a teacher understand what to do next in working with a student because they do not indicate how the student learns or thinks. Nor do these tests measure much of what students should learn. Ponder that. Standardized tests do not do anything for student and their future. Instead, they just provide data to the government on whether or not schools are teaching what is needed to be taught.

Although, there is another side to this story. Standardized tests allow students’ progress to be tracked over the years. When students take the same type of test yearly, adjusted for grade level,it is easy to see if a student is improving, losing ground academically, or staying about the same. The mark of a strong educational system is its ability to measure improvement. There need to be objective metrics which evaluate whether teachers, schools, and students are improving and how they’re performing in relation to each other. Standardized test allow these objectives to happen.

ACT and the SAT are two well known standardized tests that are taken by over two thirds of students across the nation. Meanwhile if we were to eliminate these tests the University of California Santa Barbara state that “if the University did not require SAT scores from prospective students, they would have to raise their high school GPA to unrealistic expectations just to balance out the admissions process”. This process would make it extremely difficult for the average high school student to have and maintain a certain amount of guidance and confidence while approaching their college career. These test provide guidance not only to the parents and students but to teachers as well. Standardized tests allow teachers to better identify areas of strength and weaknesses in their teaching plans and then can restructure them to better help the students succeed. According to Columbia University “Standardized testing holds teachers and schools accountable. Probably the greatest benefit of standardized testing is that teachers and schools are responsible for teaching students what they are required to know for these standardized tests. This is primarily because these scores become public record and teachers and schools who don’t perform up to par can come under intense scrutiny. This scrutiny can lead to the loss of job and in some cases a school can be closed or taken over by the state.”

Across the nation there is a common core, a high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy that is updated almost yearly, that is based on what the government believes each and every student should learn before they leave on their last day of high school. Forty two of the fifty states have adopted the common core. In every state teachers should be improving the way they teach based on the common core. But, by what means do we know that the teachers are obeying this common core? One teacher at Air Academy High School who would like to remain anonymous stated that “it [common core] is just there! There might be a newer teacher who abides by common core, but it is a joke. It is a bunch of politicians who are just telling teachers how to run a classroom when they know nothing about teaching.”

On the other hand, it is now an option for students to opt-out of most standardized tests that are given in school. So, how are we getting accurate information on the standardized tests if not all students are taking them? The tests have no effect on the students that take the tests, but they can determine the futures of the teachers that teach the young test takers across America. Meanwhile, many only look at the tests as a heavy requirement that sucks up time from the classroom and from other activities like sports. A majority of the teachers at AAHS say that colleges do not just look at grades and test scores when students apply. Rather, they look at extracurricular activities, the classes that students had on their schedules, letters of recommendations, and application essays.