Sometimes, school policy change simply requires changing the people involved. A School Committee member can be defeated in an election, or a principal or other staff member can be fired.
Our current system of funding schools is inadequate and inequitable. It shortchanges poor students, particularly those in low-income communities of color.
1. Get rid of corporal punishment
Despite efforts to ban school corporal punishment at the local, state and national levels, some states still allow schools to paddle students. This practice can cause psychological trauma for the students. It triggers a sense of revenge and revolt in their mind which hampers their learning process.
According to the U.S Department of Education, public schools provide only limited information to the federal government about the number of students they corporally punish each academic year. The data often lacks specificity, such as the sex of the student or whether they are Hispanic or enrolled in programs to learn English.
Gershoff urges journalists to push legislators in states that permit corporal punishment to explain why they continue to use pain as a means of discipline. She points to a growing body of academic research that suggests it is harmful to children and adolescents.
2. Get rid of standardized tests
In the wake of racial tensions and school violence, staffing shortages and four-day school weeks, one thing that doesn’t get much attention is the fact that millions of students spend hours each year taking high-stakes standardized tests. These exams eat up valuable class time and often don’t tell educators anything new.
Test-prep activities can eat into the curriculum as well, with teachers eliminating topics like synonyms and antonyms in order to align their curriculum with test questions. And students with the means to do so can hire test-prep tutors, creating an unfair playing field.
The good news is that there’s a simple solution to all this. States could simply limit annual standardized testing to a representative sample of the student population. This is how the nation’s report card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), works and it’s also how internationally respected international tests such as PISA work.
3. Get rid of standardized testing
Standardized tests are supposed to create a standard, which allows schools and students to be compared. But, the reality is that standardized testing can cause students to believe that they aren’t good at school or that they aren’t cut out for learning. These misconceptions can lead to disengagement in school moving forward.
Additionally, standardized testing is biased against low-income students and people of color. Students can’t focus on studying for standardized tests if their families lack the money to buy study materials or even to afford a proper meal during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why parents across the country have joined the “opt out” movement. This is not about reducing the amount of assessments students take, but about cutting out high stakes assessments. This will free up time for more engaging and meaningful learning. This will also lower student stress levels and teacher workloads.
4. Get rid of standardized tests
Standardized tests are a major source of stress for students. They are designed to provide information about students’ academic achievement, but they are used for many other purposes, including grading teachers and assessing schools. This distorts the validity of test scores and leads educators to teach to the test and schools to hire to the test.
These tests are expensive, and the fees can be prohibitive for low-income families. They also eat up valuable class time, and wealthier students can afford to pay for test-prep services, which gives them a huge advantage over their lower-income peers. If we get rid of these tests, we can free up resources to give all students the technology they need, equip teachers with PPE, and help families feed their children during this pandemic. Our education system deserves better.
5. Get rid of standardized tests
As the pandemic has eased, many colleges have dropped SAT or ACT requirements, and some states have changed testing rules, but the problems with high-stakes tests will persist. Students and teachers become focused on preparing for the test, which takes away time that could be spent on more engaging activities. The resulting stress harms both kids and teachers.
Standardized tests don’t take into account the fact that different people have very different family histories, experiences, learning and thinking styles, and backgrounds. They also don’t recognize that grading practices are naturally uneven and subjective. For example, an A in one class may be a C in another. And wealthier students can afford expensive test-prep services, giving them a huge advantage over their peers. These inequalities are not solved by greater accountability or standardized testing. Only a complete overhaul of the system will do that.
6. Get rid of standardized tests
The news is filled with stories about school violence, restrictions in Republican-led states on what teachers can say about race and gender, and staffing shortages so severe that many schools are going to four-day weeks. But one thing that gets less attention is the annual spring ritual of standardized testing that forces millions of students to take exams that educators say don’t tell them anything new and eat up time they could use for authentic learning.
But the big companies that make these tests won’t stop making them, even if they cause harm to our school systems, because they profit from them. The only way to end this madness is for parents to start opting out in large numbers, which will force decision-makers to pay attention and change the system. This will be no easy task, but it is necessary.
7. Get rid of standardized tests
The hyperfocus on standardized tests wastes valuable classroom time that could be better spent on activities that are more effective at teaching students the skills they need to succeed. Standardized tests also don’t accurately reflect what students have learned. For example, if a student hasn’t been taught how to distinguish between synonyms and antonyms, they will miss out on this important skill.
Standardized testing is also biased against people of color and low-income families. Wealthier students can afford to hire expensive test-preparation services, giving them a huge advantage over other students.
Using one test to determine the fate of a student is unrealistic, unfair and unproductive. Instead, more colleges should be test-optional in their applications and states should stop making standardized tests a requirement for graduation. Schools should also move away from high stakes testing and use alternative assessments, like projects or creative assignments.
8. Get rid of standardized tests
Standardized tests are used to measure student achievement and compare them to students in other states and countries. The tests are often multiple choice and focus on English and math, although they can include other subjects as well.
The tests are expensive, with millions of dollars paid to the test makers who create them. They are also time-consuming, with teachers and students spending hours preparing for them. They are said to stifle creativity, deprive students of a love for learning and demean their self-worth.
Some parents are fighting back against the standardized testing. Frustrated with high levels of stress, class time lost to test preparation and a lack of attention to other subjects, some are opting out of these tests for their children. The companies that make them will not stop making them, however, as they get billions from schools for their services.
9. Get rid of standardized tests
Standardized tests are a major source of stress for students and teachers. They cause children to focus on test preparation, eat up class time that could be spent learning, and can lead to anxiety disorders. They also aren’t accurate and can have a negative impact on the learning process.
Standardized tests are used for administrative, political, and financial purposes – not educational ones. They help test companies make billions, politicians get elected by promising higher scores, and administrators avoid penalties by boosting scores. They harm kids, however, by causing them to lose confidence in their natural abilities and teaching them to fear testing. COVID-19 has reduced the amount of testing students have to take, and many colleges are now test-optional, but it’s not enough. These tests need to be eliminated completely. They don’t help children or our education system move forward.
10. Get rid of standardized tests
Standardized tests take valuable classroom time away from students to administer a test that tells us nothing about what they actually know. They also don't provide any feedback on how to improve, so it's hard for students to learn from their mistakes. The tests serve administrative and political purposes — not educational ones. Test companies make billions, politicians get elected by promising better scores, and administrators can avoid punishment by focusing on raising test scores.
When students know that their future lives are being determined by a single score, they do whatever they can to pass. That includes cheating and even taking performance drugs. The coronavirus pandemic may have temporarily lowered the pressure on schools to produce high test scores, but that relief is only temporary. It's time to abolish standardized testing. Getting rid of it will free up money to give students the technology they need, teachers the PPE to keep them safe, and families the income they need to stay housed and feed their children.
