Over-testing: Charlotte 8th graders sit through more than 3,000 minutes of mandated exams per year

After the groans subside, I usually begin with an announcement about the purpose of the test — because if my students don’t see the personal value, they won’t try. I often reiterate the benefits of more testing practice, such as preparation for the SAT or ACT. I remind them they will all have to take one of these tests to get into a competitive college. They need to try their absolute best, take their time, check their work. Depending on the rules, I’ll usually review a few strategies before we begin. I keep a positive attitude and a smile on my face, because if I don’t, I’ll lose them.

I do not believe that all testing should be immediately abolished. I do believe that multiple choice reading comprehension tests in middle school prepare my students for future testing. Testing holds students and teachers accountable and proves that they are learning something (even if all they are learning is just helpful testing strategies).

My concerns are with the amount of testing we put our kids through, the crucial instructional time that is lost, and the manpower put into testing coordination and training. I’d like to show you the incredible amount of testing that an 8th grader goes through and offer some solutions. The following calculations are based on an 8th grader in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools that is not designated Title I.

District assessments

I have already spent 225 mins of class time in district mandated interim and common assessments this year. One test is called the Measures of Academic Progress. It’s given three times a year (beginning, middle, and end) in math and language arts and takes two full blocks each time. New this year are also Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools generated common assessments that take one block and are given every eight weeks in math, language arts, science, and social studies. This will be a grand total of around 2,100 minutes of class, or 28 blocks.

State assessments

This includes the End of Grade test, a Measures of Standard Learning test, and a Career and Technical Education Post-Assessment. At a minimum, these state tests will equate to at least 735 minutes of testing.

However, many 8th graders are in high school level Foreign Language classes and Algebra classes. This would be an additional 300 minutes for a grand total of 1,035 state required minutes.

Federal assessments

All 8th grade students in CMS take ASPIRE, a pre-A.C.T. test. Schools (190 minutes) and students are selected at random to take the National Assessment of Educational Progress (120 minutes). That would be a total of 310 minutes.

In summary, an 8th grader at my school would have a minimum of 3,025 minutes of testing and a maximum of 3,445 minutes of testing. Think of all the additional speaking, listening, writing, and critical thinking skills I could teach during these minutes!

So what can we do about this, besides run to the nearest private school?

There are solutions. First, let’s reevaluate the purpose of testing. What’s the point? To see if a student has learned? To test student stamina? Or to evaluate the effectiveness of a teacher?

(1) Better Tests

Testing should be student-centered and not used solely to evaluate teacher effectiveness. If a student can’t read, they won’t be able to pass any of these tests. Even the Math tests have numerous word problems that require reading and critical thinking skills. And how many of these tests have writing sections? ONE. Kids aren’t critically thinking if they are circling and bubbling in. In fact, a lot are guessing: 25% are getting the answer correct whether they read the problem or not.

There could be one or two tests that accomplish all of the same goals and test the same standards – tests that include writing, critical thinking and problem-solving, not rote memorization and expert guessing. If federal, state, and local districts communicated, we could test all the important standards once or twice during the year, instead of three different layers of tests evaluating the same standards.

(2) Less Tests

If the tests are higher quality, we won’t need as many of them. Think of all the money that could be saved on all levels. Money that can be used to hire objective teachers from across the state to grade the writing or short answer sections. (The state used to have End of Grade tests in the 4th and 7th grades that were mostly writing, but funding was cut for teacher-graders. Since then, those tests have become all multiple choice, machine-graded, reading comprehension tests.) Currently, only the high schools have a full-time position dedicated to coordinating the numerous tests. All the elementary schools and middle schools are essentially forced to take a teacher out of the classroom to organize and comply with federal and state regulations. Less tests could mean an additional teacher in the classroom. Most importantly, less testing means more teaching. More time for project-based learning and real-life problem solving.

Recently, President Obama stated that schools should only use 2% of their time in testing. While I support his initiative, I wonder how it could possibly be enforced on a federal level. Politicians, administrators, teachers, parents and students must all come to the table. We must be willing to make changes and take chances if we want our students to succeed in school, and most importantly, succeed in life.

Now, can I please have my 3,000 minutes back?

Hilary Marshall is in her 8th year of teaching 8th grade Language Arts, with her National Board Certification in Middle Grades English Language Arts. She is currently a North Carolina Teacher Voice Fellow with Hope Street Group. Please email her with questions or comments at [email protected].