Testing Unfair

Editor's Box

Testing unfair, unnecessary

In high school students are tested yearly with standardized tests. The point of these tests is to determine progress and sometimes placement.

Also during high school students have to take the graduation test to make sure they have learned enough to graduate. Then there is the SAT to make sure students are smart enough for college.

One cannot fail the SAT; one can only do poorly. The SAT works like a placement test in that colleges and universities require certain scores before they will allow students to enter their system.

So it would seem with all the years of testing one must endure to reach the college level, that once students get into college the standardized testing would stop and students could learn in peace.

But sadly this is not so. First there is the COMPASS test. This is an entrance test for students who did not score well enough on the SAT to go straight into college-level classes. It is a second chance. Students who score well can go ahead and begin their college experience.

However, if a student does not do well on the COMPASS, then he or she will be entered into learning support classes, which do not count toward graduation.

That means that students in these classes are paying tuition and buying books but aren't getting college credit.

It is obvious there is a reason for the exam because about half of the students who take it fail one or more parts. That's one-third of Floyd College students who are taking classes that earn them no credit.

So the COMPASS does serve a purpose, but is it a fair test? Some teachers would say "no" to that one.

A reporter for the SMP attempted several times to take the COMPASS or watch a professor take it, but every request was denied. What is there to hide?

The reporter was told that it would not be fair if the content of the test was printed in the newspaper. But that was not the objective.

If that had been the reporter's goal then he or she could have just spoken to students who have taken the test and gathered the information in that way.

The COMPASS is a state-wide exam, so maybe the powers that be should consider this a subject worthy of discussion. Teachers are complaining. Students are complaining. Something needs to be done.

The Regrets' Test is another test that college students must take. Basically it is a reading and writing test.

This test is unnecessary and pointless to boot. If students cannot pass a reading and writing exam, which is the current format of the Regents' Test, then failing grades in English will weed them out.

What's worse, if someone does actually fail one or both portions of the Regents' Test, he or she is then placed into a remedial class for those section(s).

Once again, we have students taking classes that earn them no credit all because they didn't do well on a test.

The fact that people are going to be tested all thoughout life is something everyone will just have to deal with. But exams that test college students' ability to read and write are a waste of time. How did these people get to the college level if they cannot pass a simple reading and writing test?

Its not a perfect system (not even close), but with some researching and a little bit of tweaking, maybe the right adjustments can be made. There is plenty of room for improvement, and improvement is progress.