Standardized Testing.
This manifests itself as a test that is administered and scored in a standard manner and is enforced at schools all around the state of Texas.
It is commonly referred to as the STAAR tests and students tend to have a wide range of views on this topic. However, one common occurrence in a student’s response to standardized testing in school is this: it’s agitating and shouldn’t happen again.
“Never again,” senior Elsy Mosqueda said. “These tests don’t guarantee the knowledge of someone; everyone has off days and the build-up of a big test can be super stressful and cause students to have a negative impact on their scores. Most students don’t try because they know as long as they get some correct they’ll be fine. The passing grade is so low, it truly is pointless.”
The Texas Assessment Program stated that the STAAR is a program meant to measure the extent to which students have learned and are able to apply the knowledge and skills they have gained over the school year. This is true as the test takes multiple state-mandated learning skills and requires one to apply those skills. However, this doesn’t mean the students taking the test fully approve.
“I’d rather it just not happen again,” sophomore Myles Lillo said. “Simply because it only proves [you’re] good at school, not any outside knowledge. It also stresses people out too much to be beneficial to mental health.”
In 2023 and 2022, the Charles Butt Foundation did a survey asking teachers, parents, and students if they approved of state testing in Texas. Their results showed that Texans recognized the importance of the STAAR test, but they question the test as an accurate reflection of student learning and saw it as a challenge providing stress to students. When asked a similar question, junior Kairi Oates gave a similar response.
“Never again,” Oates said. “I’m a horrible test taker and it brings down my grade. [It] makes me stressed, then drains my energy. My anxiety won’t let me prepare.”
In some scenarios, the STAAR test is required to pass the grade level someone is currently in. Some students believe this idea, floating in their head as they go through with the test, puts too much pressure on them.
“It makes me feel dread,” sophomore Preston Parker said. “Before the test it makes me nervous and causes me to oversleep. After the test, it makes me tired and also relieved it’s over.”
In the end, this mandatory test has caused some students problems, but it’s extremely important to make sure students are understanding the state-mandated requirements for the amount of information they need.
“What I think of state testing is that it’s extremely boring, but it does prove to have some useful benefits like seeing where you are in terms of how you need to improve,” sophomore Ethan Henry said. “Now if I had a say in whether or not to have state testing, I would get rid of it. There are other ways to find out how you need to improve without the use of this dreaded test.”
