S. Henry, Lanier M.S.

Student Townhall 1

Simon Henry

Lanier M.S. Student Townhall

February 21, 2018

One Size Doesn't Fit All: Why High-Stakes Testing is Failing ALL Our Students

My name is Simon Henry, and I thank you for taking the time to listening to what I have

to say today. Everybody is different. Everybody talks differently, acts differently and looks

different than each other. And we are taught at our schools to embrace these differences, to

embrace the individuality of the people around us. And yet, at the same time, the Texas School

System is neglecting to recognize a crucial difference by implementing standardized testing, and

in the process, are denying a basic right awarded to all people worldwide. The right to learn.

Knowledge is power, and by not teaching students the way they need to be taught, you are taking

that power away from them.

In 1885 the first form of standardized testing in Texas took shape when high schools

started sending certain tests to the University of Texas for examination. The process wasn’t

revisited for another 95 years. To put that into perspective, Lanier Middle school, a staple of this

community since 1926, and one of the oldest schools in Houston has only been open for 92

years. After the long hiatus, in 1980, it was decided that schools would be required to test

students in 3rd, 5th, and 9th grade on math’ reading, and writing, in a test called The Texas

Assessment of Basic Skills. In 1984, a new test was implemented, one that would be higher

stakes and taken more frequently called TEAMS(Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum
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Skills). Later, in 2003, the TAKS(Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) was

implemented, a test that would cover more curriculum than its predecessor, or in essence, would

be longer. In spring 2012, the STAAR program replaced TAKS. For grades 3–8, STAAR

assessments were given for the same subjects and grades that were assessed with TAKS. During

high school, however, grade-specific assessments were replaced with 15 STAAR EOC

assessments. Even though the test was changed all these times, not once was is changed to

provide an individualized test to help students. Instead, it was changed to raise stakes, raise

standards, and increase the number of assessments the student would have to take.

While I do agree that some form of testing is necessary in order to gauge the progress of

students throughout the school year, the way the state tests students does not show the true

capabilities of these students. While some students excel under this system, others fail due to a

lack of a flexible curriculum that accommodates to the individual needs of the students.

Standardized testing should be changed in its format in order to better serve its students.

The current test discriminates against English language learners and those who have special

needs. The Texas Education Agency says that all students will be held to the same test

standards,” regardless of the severity of the student’s disability.” And during the 2014-2015

school year, the modified STAAR for students with disabilities was replaced with the STAAR

Accommodated, which has the same passing standards as the regular STAAR, which is an

example of TEA’s one size fits all attitude toward students.

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That is why I propose that the teachers should be allowed to create their own tests for

each subject. While these tests would have to be approved by the district, nobody knows their

students better than teachers, so they should be able to get the student to learn in a more effective

way than test prep sheets. These tests would be accommodated for the individual needs of the

students to bring out the best in each one.

Some may say that standardized testing is a reliable way to measure a student’s ability to

learn. But all it really does is measure the ability for students to regurgitate information that was

force-fed to them. It doesn’t measure the most important things, such as creativity, resilience,

and determination, all of which are more necessary in the modern workplace than finding the

value of X. At the same time, others may object, saying, “All students take the same test, and

have the same opportunity to excel.” But that’s just it. Every student is treated as if they are

clones of one another, and that they will all succeed if the same thing is put in front of them. But

they don’t. Every single student is different, with different strengths, weaknesses, and

limitations, and if you ignore this difference by putting the same test in front of every student,

you condemn them to become a cookie cutter image of your idea of a student, one without

imagination, and without individuality. You create a student that suppresses their natural

creativity in order to learn the way they were told to, instead of the way they do naturally. A

student’s worth can not be measured by bubbles on a page. It is thought that Einstein once said,

“Everybody is a genius. By if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole

life believing it is stupid. “So if you judge a student by their ability to repeat facts on command

like a trained animal, instead of what actually matters, they will never truly learn anything.”
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It is my belief that in order to truly teach, you must engage the students and open their

minds and hearts to the world around them. All it takes is a skilled teacher to change an

instigator into an innovator. The beauty of truly teaching is that when you open a student’s mind

and heart, you inspire them to question the way things are and imagine the way things could be.

And that is impossible through test prep sheets and scantrons. The test that the state of Texas

takes has changed a lot over the last 20 years to make it more challenging. But still, you neglect

to view the aspects of a student that are more important than head knowledge. In the modern

workplace, you will never need to know the capital of Montana(Helena), but you will need

determination, resilience, and most importantly, imagination. But not only that, you are hurting

the students. Stress over high-stakes testing can cause problems such as anxiety, depression,

fatigue, insomnia, and many others. And while some may give reason after reason that the test

works, the bottom line is this. Students come to school to learn, and when teachers are forced to

base their whole curriculum on a test, the students won’t learn. Students are the future of this

country. Through history, those who paved the way to the future were those who thought outside

the box ,and used imagination, determination and resilience to innovate. So please, as a student,

beg you: Change the way we are measured, not by an arbitrary number, or bubbles on a page, but

by the character that allows us to learn.