Make it Count

I have a solution to raise the low standardized test scores in our public school system. It isn't that other countries students are smarter than ours. It isn't that our teachers are unqualified and they don't need to further their own degrees. It is the fact that standardized tests do not count as part of the child's grade. They don't care about the test. Not enough of them at least. Period. Some of them are even thrilled when test week rolls around because it means that they don't have to actually do any real work. Some of them are so overwhelmed with the workload that actually does count and has the potential to hold them back if they fail, that they welcome the reprieve that standardized tests bring. Homework is curtailed or not assigned at all. Regularly scheduled classroom curriculum is put on a shelf for the following week. We are a nation that has drilled it into the minds of it's citizens that hard work will be rewarded. We reward our youth with good grades when they do well. Why would we expect them to exert the same amount of effort they would on a test that counts towards their grade, on one that doesn't, and get nothing for it?

You want to motivate the youth of America when it comes to standardized tests? Tell them that a signifigant percentage of their grade depends on it. They'll study their pimply asses off and not use their #2 pencils to bubble in cool patterns that spell out their name. Just a thought.