Should Homeschoolers be Forced to Take Standardized Tests?
Many people feel that homeschoolers should be tested each year, as are public school students. They wonder how anyone will know if the children are learning. If a test is considered necessary for public school students, shouldn't all children have to endure them?
There are several problems with this theory. First of all, testing has not been proven to improve education in the public schools. In fact, many teachers complain that it is hurting education. In the desperate push to teach children the shallow skills measured by the tests, real learning is eliminated. Children in some areas are not even getting recess because there isn't time. Art, music, science...any subject not on a test is not taught. Any skill not on a test is considered unimportant. Unfortunately, thinking is not on the test...so thinking is often ignored in favor of rote memorization.
Testing does not adequately measure learning. Often tests are subjective or based on cultural standards. (See Education Week for more on this subject.) I once saw a sample state test. The second grade test required children to interpret a poem. This was not an essay. This was multiple choice. I got the question wrong. (I received perfect scores on my literature interpretations in college.) If I couldn't get it right, how was a second grader supposed to read the mind of the tester? I wondered how there can be a wrong answer for an interpretation. Interpretation by definition is an opinion. In college, I was told by my professor that any answer I gave would be considered correct, as long as I could back it up. The multiple choice test did not allow for explanation, differences of opinion, or differences in life experience.
Testing is affected by the mood of the child, his experience in test-taking, his abilities and disabilities, and by his desire to do well. On any given day, a child could give a radically different performance than he might give on another day. While public school teachers see the tests in advance and their students are given practice tests, homeschoolers are not. They are hardly competing on an equal basis. In addition, taking a state-mandated test would require homeschoolers to teach a state-mandated curriculum, since the public school curriculum is designed to teach the test. The public schools are clearly failing at education, with far fewer than half their students reading and writing at grade level; does it make sense to require homeschoolers to mimic them?
Testing cannot adequately measure the way homeschoolers learn. Homeschoolers often do not work systematically through a textbook. They usually prefer to dig deeply into a subject. They may read a very advanced book on the subject, rather than start at the beginning. The basics may get picked up along the way and some basics may get missed. Generally, they have a good grasp of the concepts, but frequently don't bother to memorize the details.
Is this a good idea? Try to remember all the facts you stuffed into your head when you were in school. Do you know them now? Most likely, you don't. Does it matter? Of course not. Facts can be easily looked up. It's the concepts that matter. Concepts take time to learn and cannot just be looked up in a book. Standardized tests don't measure concepts; they measure what is nearly always forgotten and can be looked up when needed. People easily memorize the facts they need in their daily lives; when the time comes, a well-trained student will be able to track down and learn the information. If they never need it, then time was not wasted that could have better been spent on more important learning.
Homeschooling generally focuses on learning how to learn. It is this that matters in the long run. When a public school student graduates, what has he learned? He may have thousands of facts temporarily filling his brain, but can he learn? If he wants to learn more about physics or history and can't afford to take a class, will he know how to study these subjects himself? Most traditionally-schooled adults say, "Oh, I'd love to learn that, but I can't afford to go to school." Homeschoolers just go to the library and start reading. They know how to learn without a teacher. In general, homeschoolers should study each of the major subject areas, but it doesn't really matter what they learn. It is more important that they learn to love learning, and that they learn how to learn. With these skills, they are ready for a lifelong love affair with learning.
So, which do you want for your children? Dull facts, the ability to give rote answers that conform to some adult's idea of the correct answers, and the government's idea of what is vital to know (which might change tomorrow) or...would you rather have them turn into true scholars?
The final issue to consider is one of accountability. Why do schools have to give tests? It is not to be certain individual children are learning. If a child does poorly on the test, it is likely that nothing will change in his education. The test is to measure the school, not the child. This is considered necessary because schools cost money and the people who pay it demand accountability. Parents pay for private schools, and they also usually demand test scores, to be sure they are getting what they paid for. Homeschools are not publicly funded, and therefore, should not need to account to the government.
The standards for homeschoolers who are tested are far higher than those for public school students. If a homeschooled child does badly on a standardized test, he can be forced into a public school and the homeschool can be closed. Imagine the consequences if this standard were applied to a public school. There would be no schools left standing if they were required to make all their students pass. Why should the government be allowed to demand a 100% success rate for homeschoolers when they cannot meet that standard themselves? Until they can show that they really know what should be taught and how, they should allow those with the courage and love to sacrifice for education do so in peace.