Testing Anxiety in Schools - Research Paper Example

One of the primary methods of evaluating is through testing. In recent years however, concerns on too much testing have been raised. This paper is an argumentative paper discussing the thesis that too much testing has compromised the students’ learning and their emotional health. First, it argues that the students’ learning has been compromised by too much testing because these tests do not arm the students with analytical skills which they would actually need in their work and in their daily activities. Secondly, it argues that too much testing is reducing the enjoyment of learning, thereby causing less retention and engagement in the learning process. Finally, too much testing is compromising the emotional health of students, causing them severe anxiety and interfering with the learning process. With these elements to consider, too much testing is not an effective method of learning and major changes must be implemented soon in order to promote better learning and outcomes among students. Testing Anxiety in Schools Introduction Testing is one of the ways by which schools evaluate and assess the efficacy of the learning process among students. The process of testing includes short quizzes and long periodic examinations with varying states of intensity and duration. These tests naturally cause moments of anxiety among students who often have to go through moments of stress with each test. The stress also often lasts from the time the tests are announced to the time the results are released. In between these tests, these students also have to endure the constant strain of studying, of doing projects, finishing homework, and the possibility of unannounced tests. The age and the maturity of students in dealing with these school demands do not seem to be a major concern among some educators. In recent years, concerns about too much testing and too much homework have been pointed out by parents, teachers, and by students themselves. They also point out that too much testing is causing much anxiety among students, often compromising their learning and emotional development. Not everyone shares their concerns however, with other parents and educators arguing that testing is an essential part of the learning process and that the number of testing is sufficient for effective learning. Based on these contrasting arguments, this paper shall discuss the thesis: Too much testing in schools is compromising the students’ learning and emotional development. This essay will first provide a literature review on the development of this issue. Secondly, it will present the supporting ideas for this argument. Each reason or argument shall be presented in ascending order based on strength. Thirdly, possible arguments and arguments to these supporting arguments will also be discussed and rebutted. Finally, this paper shall end with a conclusion, further reiterating the main arguments of the paper and providing a clear answer and support for the current position in this thesis. Literature review A Los Angeles Times (2011) editorial discussed that the federal policy No Child Left Behind has become a very rigid policy because it emphasizes the need to carry out standardized tests for English and Math. This article also pointed out how the tests do not focus on the essential learning processes which students can apply in their lives. In effect, these tests do nothing more than cause anxiety to students, and do not contribute significantly to the overall academic development of students (Los Angeles Times, 2011). In a study by Barton (1999), the author discussed that there are some negative trends in the American educational testing system. This trend has been on the proliferation of standardized testing, which has increased in number and frequency. Barton (1999) emphasized that increase in standardized testing has made the educational process and system quantitative in approach. However, the schools and the learners are short-changed in terms of the information which students need in order to claim effective learning. In the study by Zatz and Chassin (1985), the authors set out to evaluate the cognition of test anxious grade school students in relation to test-taking. Outcomes were based on the Test Anxiety Scale for Children. The study revealed that for the highly test anxious students, they had more task debilitating conditions during the testing process. These conditions included negative self-assessment and unrelated thoughts. These high-anxiety students also perceived high evaluative threats. In other words, these high-anxiety students displayed fears of the evaluative processes which may be carried out on them. In a similar related report, Parents for Public Schools (2011) express that the focus on standardized testing has caused much collateral damage to various schools, mostly in relation to the narrowing of the curriculum and increase of student’s anxiety in school. The group also points out that the standardized testing processes have significantly affected the attitude which students have adopted in relation to learning (Parents for Public Schools, 2011). Some of them have lost their love for learning and have now been inundated with too many tests which have drained all the joy they should be experiencing from the learning process. All in all, the above studies present the current knowledge and articles and studies which have been carried out on the subject matter. These studies however do not present sufficient data on the impact of too much testing on students. Too much testing compromises the learning of students Too much testing in schools is compromising the student’s learning and emotional development. It is compromising the student’s learning because the emphasis on tests is often made at the expense of the child’s self-exploration and creativity (Barton, 1999). In other words, answers become standardized and often do not allow room for other possible answers. By carrying out too many tests on students, the learning and creative process of learning is compromised; moreover, it can place pressure on young students and their teachers to achieve standard levels of learning. Students now seem to lack the ability to carry out critical thinking and analysis; they end up simply memorizing the right answers because these are part of the standard tests they take. Knowing how the answers are derived seems to have become less important to students, especially with the increase of standardized testing. However, in terms of practical applications, universities and future employers often prioritize students who have critical thinking skills, not those who have memorized standard answers to questions. Testing is not necessarily equated with improved knowledge or improved testing scores. Since the introduction of the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ which is partly responsible for increased testing for students, the performance of American students has not significantly improved (Henry, 2007). The National Assessment of Educational Progress released the Nation’s Report Card where they revealed the poor performance of American students in even the most basic information, like those which relate to American history of even sociology (Darlington, 2002). Clearly, increased testing in some aspects of education has caused the neglect of learning in other fields of study. In effect, too much testing has hardly improved the learning of students, especially where the increased testing has only been focused on certain subjects. In general, the worry for increased testing and persistently poor academic performance has become a major concern among educators. Such performance implies poor competitiveness in relation to other countries that, in contrast, are improving on their academic competence and in the process, are presenting legitimate threats to the American labor force. Too much testing without the essential applications for the beneficial learning process of the child can therefore be detrimental to the learner because the learning does not focus on what the child would actually need for the future in order to be a valuable member of society. Too much testing reduces the student’s emotional enjoyment of learning Learning relates to the discovery of new information, mostly those previously unknown to the individual learner. As naturally inquisitive individuals, human beings have always been eager to uncover new knowledge and with each discovery, or innovation, or invention, their thirst for learning has often been enhanced. The learning process is therefore an enjoyable part of a person’s life. The learning process has become institutionalized through our schools and this institution has set forth testing as a means of evaluating student’s performance and learning. The ability to retain information, as well as the ability to critically evaluate such data has become an essential part in the advancement of learning, and in the more practical setting, the advancement through each grade in school. In recent years, the frequency of the tests has increased, and the advancement of the learners has been hinged on how well the students perform on these tests (Herman, Dreyfus, and Golan, 1990). The learning aspect and the joy of learning seem to have become less of a concern. In other words, the joy of discovering new information and new innovations has become less important for students. Their main focus in learning has now shifted to their primary goal of passing the tests, not of actually learning the relevant information and accumulating skills they can later use in their future career (Herman, et.al., 1990). The learning process has therefore become a tool for passing the test, not a tool for self-improvement. Too much testing is causing and increasing testing anxiety Too much testing in schools can compromise a child’s emotional development. The emotional coping in this case refers to the anxiety and stress which the child often goes through as a student. It also refers to the fact that the increased frequency of tests, would also cause increased anxiety and stress. Test anxiety is often an unavoidable part of the learning process in school. Even the smartest and most prepared student would likely have some form of anxiety associated with the test. Depending on how people cope with their stressors, the anxiety may be moderate and in this case would be a helpful stimulant during the test, however for others, the anxiety may be severe and these forms of anxiety can be emotional traumatic (Zatz and Chassin, 1985). With numerous tests administered to these students, increased incidents of anxiety and stress would be apparent. Test anxiety is often seen as early as pre-school or elementary years, and is often exacerbated when parents, as well as teachers have high and often unrealistic expectations on the child’s performance. When negative reactions are expressed during low test scores, children often end up being apprehensive about any test they take and the results of these tests. As children progress through their education, other elements often cause anxiety, especially when these children start to compare their performance with other children and when they feel the pressure of performing as good as or even better than their classmates. Testing are opportunities for students to be judged on their learning, on their IQ, and on subjects they excel in or do not excel in. With the test results, students also get to judge each other, and know what subjects they are good at and who among their classmates is smart (Stranahan, Borg, and Borg, 2004). Based on how each student performs in each test, these students often base their interactions and relations with other students. With every test, labels for each student continue to be built. Labels such as – “slow learner” or “fast learner” are often based on these tests. As tests increase in frequency, these labels may or may not be changed and more often than not, for those who are labeled as “slow,” tests become a source of anxiety. They begin to fear each test because it is yet another opportunity for them to be called slow. Fast learners are also not spared from the anxiety because with each test, the pressure to perform well is ever present, and there is a persistent fear of failing to live up to the label or to the expectations. In the end, the labels attached to each student based on test results seem to become the dominant part of the learning process. And these test results also become a constant cause of concern and anxiety for young minds and young learners. An interview with an elementary school teacher also revealed that with the increased number of tests they are required to carry out on their students, they note how students have become “resentful” and “grumbly” about every test they administer or assignment they assign. In general, they believe that students have become weary of the numerous demands of learning and they have forgotten how to actually enjoy the process of learning. With increased testing, increased opportunities for comparison with other students emerge. Students then become competitive with each other and often pressure each other to perform well. However, not all students can perform consistently well. The pressure and competition often increases anxiety among children, especially those who are not doing well. Most students naturally want to perform well in their classes, to attain mostly “A’s” because of their personal desire and also because of parental and peer pressure. Under these conditions, anxiety can often register at a significant level (Hill and Wigfield, 2007). In the current competitive educational system, pressure to do well in school often increases as the children advance through their schooling. For which reason, anxiety often causes an increasingly debilitating impact on elementary students as they progress in each grade. As these children grow older, they become more aware of the pressure to perform well and become more anxious and conscious of their actions when they fail expectations. For the anxiety-ridden students, they would likely be more sensitive to failure because of the reactions they get from other people. Moreover, they are also often more sensitive to the evaluation of adults, not so much to the reaction of their fellow students. These anxious students are also strongly motivated to avoid failures because they fear the criticism which often follows it. On the other hand, other students, who are less anxious about their performance, are often motivated to embrace success or even failure without any fear or anxiety. Children with lesser anxiety about tests and test results, are sometimes less likely to care about these results. As a result, they are able to concentrate more on the more important aspects of education – that of learning. Their overly anxious counterparts however would likely do their best to avoid tests and any other evaluative activities because of their major concerns on their performance. These highly anxious children would often not perform well during these tests because they are often overcome by their anxiety. Noticeably, a cycle is formed that of low rates in tests leading to anxiety and anxiety affecting testing performance, and so on, and so forth. Differences in performance in school during tests are often based on the ability of students to maintain attention. Those with high levels of anxiety are often self-preoccupied and sometimes end up not focusing on what they are actually doing. For those with less anxiety, they are able to focus more on their activity and on their tests. Those who are highly anxious often end up thinking so many irrational and irrelevant thoughts leading up to and during the test itself (Zatz and Chassin, 1985). Unrelated thoughts can sometimes include lingering thoughts on unfavorable personal qualities which would not help in any way in getting them through the test. These unrelated thoughts often come about when the tests carried out are tests of ability because these students believe that they may not have the ability to perform well during the tests. For children with higher anxiety, the ability to concentrate on the test at hand or their current activity is often compromised. It is therefore often the case that highly anxious students during tests or any other school activity sometimes end up asking their classmates unrelated issues, and for their lesser anxious classmates, they are usually able to carry out their tasks without having to ask questions. Figure 1 Relationship of Performance and Amount of Anxiety (Correlation, 2012) In order to further demonstrate the link between levels of anxiety and performance (in testing and related activities), Slavin (2007) cites the above table which demonstrates a curvilinear correlation between variables. In the table, the variables have a non-linear relationship. In interpreting the data, it is apparent to note that where anxiety is low, the performance of the student is also low; for those with moderate anxiety, the performance is often high, but for those with high anxiety, their performance is often also low. While children with low anxiety are more likely to perform well and persist on a particular task or test, highly anxious children often do not perform well and sometimes end up not finishing or not doing the task assigned. With higher levels of anxiety among students, the performance during evaluative activities leads students to be preoccupied with thoughts of failure and to be concerned about the reaction of adults to their failures (Connors, et.al., 2009). With too much testing in the schools, levels of anxiety would likely increase among students, especially among those who are not doing well academically. Advocates of increased testing among students may argue that testing helps to evaluate the performance of students. It is in fact the most effective way of determining what the students have learned and how well they have assimilated the information transmitted to them in the classroom setting. Based on these premises, they argue that there is no such thing as too much testing in schools because it is an essential part of the learning process. Admittedly, they would likely acknowledge the fact that tests can cause anxiety and can often cause stress and trauma to students. However, they argue that the anxiety is also part of the normal process of learning. Without anxiety, the student would not be motivated to study or to excel in school. There is some merit which can be drawn from these arguments because indeed, for a long time, testing has been an essential and crucial part of the learning process. Moreover, it is the primary tool used by educators in order to assess the students’ learning. However, as was already acknowledged above, testing can cause severe anxiety. Even if anxiety is a natural part of the testing process and even if moderate anxiety is often essential for optimum performance, too much of it can be counterproductive. As demonstrated previously, too much testing can compound the normal anxiety felt by students during their tests (Connors, et.al., 2009). One test can already cause anxiety, and numerous ones would increase such anxiety and in general, impacting on the student’s learning, as well as emotional health. These tests often end up defining the student, including how he or she performs in class and what his or her prospects would be in other classes as a student and as a future professional. Tests cannot effectively define an individual because they only measure a small part of a specific subject or lesson. Unless teachers can come up with tests which are able to evaluate all that a student has learned about history, math, or science, as well as other subjects, tests can only be fairly used as part of the evaluative process for students. Conclusion Too much testing in schools is compromising students’ learning and emotional development. The number and frequency of tests have increased in recent years. This has been a cause of concern for many parents, learners, and teachers who believe that testing is a major source of anxiety among students. This article argues that there is too much testing in the schools and such tests are hurting, instead of healing students. First and foremost, these tests are compromising the students’ learning because they do not actually help improve the student’s analytical skills; instead, these tests only serve the temporary needs of the learner. Secondly, too much testing in schools is reducing the students’ enjoyment in the learning process. These students have now become more preoccupied with passing their test, and not to learn new information and skills. Lastly, too much testing has compromised the students’ emotional health in the sense that it is causing more anxiety to students. Each test can cause anxiety to students, and increased frequency and number of tests, would further exacerbate the anxiety of students. Too much anxiety in the classroom can often result to poor academic performance which can again lead to greater anxiety among students. Based on these considerations and arguments, it is logical to conclude that too much testing in schools is not beneficial to the learners, especially to the young learners who are often vulnerable to the emotional impact of any experience they may not adequately understand. It is therefore important for the relevant authorities to reduce the number of tests imposed on students. Instead, the focus for the young learners must be on the actual process of learning and of discovery. With these adjustments, the enjoyment in learning and in going to school may actually be restored. References Barton, P. (1999). Too much testing of the wrong kind; too little of the right kind in K-12 education. Educational Testing Service. Retrieved from http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PICTOOMUCH.pdf Connors, L., Putwain, D., Woods, K., and Nicholson, L. (2009). Causes and consequences of test anxiety in Key Stage 2 pupils: The mediational role of emotional resilience. University of Manchester. Retrieved from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/184268.pdf Correlation (2012). Retrieved from http://edn523.wikispaces.com/Correlation Darlington, D. (2002). U.S. Department of Education releases results of latest U.S. history test. Retrieved from http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2002/Summer/naep.cfm Henry, P. (2007). The case against standardized testing. Retrieved from http://www.mcte.org/journal/mej07/3Henry.pdf Herman, J., Dreyfus, J., and Golan, S. (1990). The effects of testing on teaching and learning. UCLA Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. Retrieved from http://www.cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/TR327.pdf Hill, K. and Wigfield, A. (1984). Test anxiety: a major educational problem and what can be done about it. The Elementary School Journal, 85(1), 105-126. Los Angeles Times (2011). Education: too much testing?. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/13/opinion/la-ed-schools-20111013 Parents for Public Schools (2004). Too much emphasis on testing?. Retrieved from http://www.parents4publicschools.org/Documents/Accountability_testing_report.pdf Slavin, R. (2007). Educational research in an age of accountability. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Stranahan, H., Borg, J., and Borg, M., (2004). School grades based on standardized test scores: are they fair? University of North Florida. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/08006.pdf Zatz, S. and Chassin, L. (1985). Cognitions of test-anxious children under naturalistic test-taking conditions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(3), 393-401. Read More