State test has issues

Since thirdrd grade in the state of Washington, myself and other students have had to take the state test, called the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA). The SBA is used in public schools to ensure that students are receiving a quality education and meeting the standards to be on track to succeed. The SBA also allows parents to know how their kids are doing in school.

But these tests are not an accurate measure of a student’s education. These tests have multiple negative aspects, including the amount of time it takes during the school year, lower test scores in high-poverty areas, and does not take into account students who have limited English proficiency.

The SBA on average takes around two days to complete, depending on the student. From personal experiences, it’s a tiring and exhausting experience. The questions are lengthy, and don’t give an accurate representation of the skills learned.

Other factors are that students in areas with poverty tend to do worse on the test than students who live in higher-income areas, due to the amount of resources available. Students whose first language isn’t English still have to take the test, giving them an unfair disadvantage, with the only exception being students who have been in the United States for less than a year.

While in theory state testing seems to be a good solution to finding out how well students are learning, it is not an accurate measure of student’s learning through the year.

Ada Hoogendam

Spokane