Standardized Tests For Children: How Early Is Too Early?

For as long as many people can remember, academic progress has been measured by standardized tests. These are created by test publishing businesses and used to help determine the performance of every student in the country. They are considered to be the guideline or standard of measure for every child in America who takes the test along with all of their peers.

Standardized tests are also used to help determine which school programs are succeeding and how well each school district is doing in terms of students’ skills and abilities. The results of the tests also assist schools in developing new and updated instructional methods that need to be taken to help improve the academic performance of their students. Other ways these tests can be used by schools include selecting students for special programs, placing students in special groups, and giving out student achievement awards.

While standardized tests have been used for decades for these purposes, they are not always the best way to figure out a student’s capability. They don’t take into account different styles of learning, or students who may not be able to handle the pressure of such a test and therefore perform well below their own academic ability. So when do students begin doing standardized testing these days? And what are the downsides of standardized tests for children?

Do preschoolers take standardized tests?
Standardized tests have a long history in the United States. They were first used to determine the social power and status of people entering the country. It wasn’t until 1900 that standardized tests were offered at a university and college level. Fast forward to now, and almost everyone has done or will do a standardized test at some point in their lifetime. Younger students such as preschoolers have not always been subjected to the standardized test – but that has changed in recent times.

Preschoolers do take standardized tests nowadays; however, these tests are not to help educators determine if they are ready for kindergarten. Rather, they help to identify if a particular student needs any special needs services as they continue on with their education. Not every state uses standardized tests for preschoolers, but nearly half have some sort of kindergarten-readiness entry test.

What grade do students start taking standardized tests?
According to federal law, students do not have to take any form of standardized test until they are in the third grade. This is likely because the tests at those young ages may not be the best indicators of academic performance and understanding. Many states have applied for grants that could help early-learning programs, and if they get approved, they can decide if children in grades lower than third have to take part in standardized testing.

The grade also changes by state. For example, almost all students in California will have to take a standardized test in second grade. The decision is often left up to the educational professionals in each state to define how they measure academic performance. However, the federal government does have its own mandated standardized testing for students across the country. 

Should young children be evaluated using standardized tests?
Many experts believe that evaluating young children using the standardized testing model isn’t only ineffective and unreliable, but could also hurt their academic journey. For example, many younger children are not yet able to fully understand the instructions that are used for most standardized tests, which causes them to miss out on cues that older children are able to pick up on to complete the assessment properly.

Written instructions or situational cues are also lost on younger children who are still just getting used to learning in a traditional environment. Since standardized tests also often ask for answers to questions that require complex information-processing skills, this could cause a child to perform poorly. This isn’t because that child isn’t learning as well as their peers, but simply because of the way standardized testing is carried out.

For very young children, standardized testing may also have more to do with simplistic question-answer techniques, such as showing colors and asking them to identify the right one, or pointing to an object that is bigger than the other on the page. These questions don’t really call on critical thinking skills that would be more useful in testing a child’s academic development.

What are the negatives of standardized testing?
Standardized testing may have some pros, but it also comes with some heavy negatives that could impeded a child’s ability to showcase their true academic ability. For example, exams and tests of this magnitude often cause a plague of stress for students as they prepare to take them. This stress and pressure could lead to lowered self-esteem and a negative attitude towards school because they are not confident in their abilities.

External factors like a child’s home life, test anxiety levels, or a bright student’s inability to do well on this particular type of test are not taken into consideration as well. Because of this, a student who is fully capable in their academics could appear, on paper, to be the exact opposite. Standardized tests also leave out other measures of learning such as motivation and creativity, which limits the scope of evaluation for educators. 

While standardized tests may be useful for some things, starting such testing too early could end up hurting students’ academic experience in the long run.

 

Featured image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash