I’m not a huge fan of the standardized testing craze that’s swept the nation, and the way these test-focused curricula tend to distract from learning in order to teach to the test. It’s not that these tests serve no useful purpose, just that it’s limited, and that time spent measuring progress is time lost from achieving it. So as long as Washington is going to administer standardized tests as part of its graduation requirements, why not follow the lead of states that kill two birds with one stone:
“In 2013, there were proposals in a number of states to integrate a college admissions test into the state system, and as states come out of the recession, we may see more,” Mr. Schaeffer said. “Using a college admissions test as the state’s high school test cuts out one test, which responds to growing pressure from teachers that enough is enough.”
Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming require students to take the test, and Arkansas pays for the ACT if districts want to offer it. The SAT has only Delaware, Idaho and Maine.
One of the measures of a high school’s success is the college readiness of its graduates, so why not replace the state’s HSPE with a test that’s also required for college admission—the SAT or ACT? Or, if replacing HSPE is too big an idea for Olympia’s small-thinkers, why not replace one of the many other tests—like the controversial MAP—with, say, PSAT and SAT tests? That way, teaching to the test would also help Washington’s high schoolers get into the college of their choice by prepping them for one of these college entrance exams, while helping to close the opportunity gap by eliminating the cost of SAT/ACT testing and preparation for low-income families.
I dunno, just seems like a more efficient use of our students’ time—and of scarce state education resources—than our current testing regime.