Standarized Tests: For Students or Teachers?

Standardized testing is a type of testing that young children and teens go through during their time in school. Whether that be elementary school or high school, students face these grueling tests time in and out. Costs along with the staggering question of “do these tests work?” are some of the issues that both teachers and students face. As well as these concerns, one Mississippi Elementary school was now concerned about cheating among students. In 2014, the teachers in a Jackson, Mississippi school were under scrutiny for allegedly allowing and assisting their students with regards to cheating on standardized tests in classrooms. The principal of the school was supposedly telling teachers in a meeting to help students cheat on their tests. Three teachers, that weren’t named in fear of jeopardizing their teaching licenses, came out and spoke about the practices that were done at this school. Teachers described the cheating as waiting for everyone to finish a certain amount of questions before anyone can move on and also writing answers in the test booklet before filling in the Scantron. What does this do you may ask? Well, having students write their answers on the test booklet first, allowed teachers to go around and check their work before filling out the Scantron, one teacher explained. If an answer was incorrect, the teacher would alert them to change it. Having everyone work at the same pace would allow teachers to go around and check the answers before anyone moved on to the next section. And what if a student didn’t know the answer? Teachers were told to tell students to leave it blank and after the testing session, teachers were to fill out the missing questions on the student’s exams. So the question here is ethical or unethical? Do we allow teachers to assist students in an effort to raise testing scores? Or do we let students try on their own and let them put in their best effort themselves. This issue, I believe, is unethical. If the teachers were assisting the students and helping them cheat then why shouldn’t their parents be allowed to come in and help them? Obviously a joke but it really seems like an equivalent to this situation. Using teachers knowledge to help kids get ahead is taking the easy way out and it will only go so far, so why do it? Students will need to learn to decipher, analyze and solve problems on their own and how can they do that when they have a constant lifeline to give them the answer? The solution is to let them earn what they earn. Don’t alter the scores for your own benefit or to make your school more successful. So this issue of ethos comes into play greatly in this situation. Do the right thing, the ethical thing, and let students score on their own to give an accurate representation of their own ability. Students should always put their best, and their own, foot forward.