How are Tests the Answer?- 9/26/14

Upon reading the first few chapters of "The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got that Way" by Amanda Ripley, the thought occurred to me, that tests, no matter what form, are seen as the solution to the educational woes across the world.

(image: google images) 

The first chapter of this book launches into a discussion of the beginning of the PISA or Program for International Student Assessment. The PISA is designed to measure student creative thinking and problem solving skills, but not in a mathematical problem solving way, but more of a real-life application of creative and critical thinking. 

In a country, where so much of the system is based upon standardized test scores, how could another test be the solution to this problem of "teaching to the test" and No Child Left Behind? Tests could be seen by many as the solution to an educational problem, because this is what the educational community has always done. But is it not time for a change? Students should be learning how to think critically and creatively but not because a test tells us so. This calls for a change in the type of assessment given. 

As a future teacher of a foreign language, it is stressed that students be given authentic assessment, or assessment that mimics real-life situations, such as preparing a dialogue that one could use to order food in a foreign country, or writing directions to give to a fellow student who can only speak in the target language. This type of assessment should be integrated into all class disciplines. Rather than giving a multiple choice test, students should be using their knowledge to decipher real-life scenarios, such as mortgage applications, figuring out the best long term financial plan and so on. Do we really need a test to tell us that our students need to think more critically and on a higher level. I personally do not think so.