I'm picturing a student typing with only two fingers struggling through the English portion of the Smarter Balanced Assessments.  I'm picturing a third grader who has never learned how to properly use the computer attempt to maneuver his or her way through the complicated interface of the math portion of the Smarter Balanced Assessments. I'm picturing a student with his or her head down on the desk, sleeping through the assessment. What do all these students have in common? Their scores on these tests determine whether or not some teachers will keep their jobs or not. As a future educator, I see our nation's obsession with standardized testing as my biggest enemy, and I believe that many teachers are on the same page.

When those who are creating policies mandating what standards students and teachers are held to are not the ones who spend their time in classrooms, how can they say with any reasonable confidence that these evaluations will work? 40% of teacher evaluations are now based on student growth and assessment data. With the increasing allegations of various states and cities cheating on standardized tests, one would think that the need for a different evaluation method was clearer. Thinking even on how current teachers tell their students to write their essays for the ACT- write the strongest essay with the most evidence, instead of, write about what you truly believe about the prompt- the system is plagued with questionable methods. I am not saying I have a solution for how students and teachers should be evaluated, but I firmly believe that standardized tests are not fair to all students and judging teacher performance based off of these tests is not benefiting anyone. I lied. It might be benefitting those who make money off of these standardized tests. However, when you think about how our youth are the future leaders of our world, maybe a system that most benefits them would be a slightly better idea.

I feel unprepared to fully delve into the issues that teachers face with standardized testing. I am but a mere education student with no true practice in the classroom, and no personal experience in these struggles that teachers face with standardized testing. I don't think this withholds my right to an opinion on the matter, but I do think that I cannot fully understand what it means to be held to these evaluation standards without experiencing them first hand.

After reviewing the Smarter Balanced Assessments and attempting some of the math portions of the assessments, I am concerned about the formatting. The third grade math had a complicated interface that it took a significant amount of time to understand even as a graduate student. Each question had a different format of how the answer was submitted, which made the test feel choppy and threw off my thinking process. The point of these tests was to move away from the traditional bubbling in of answers, but wasn't there some benefit to consistency? The math for higher grade levels was difficult, even for the math major sitting next to me taking the 9th grade math exam. That in itself should raise some questions about this test. What motivates students to want to do well on this test? Who teaches them the technology necessary to perform well on the test?

I have much to learn about the Smarter Balanced Assessments and how teachers and students are evaluated, but the way I see it now, I see standardized tests as an obstacle, not a useful tool. How can we change that? I think if someone had the answer to that question, there would not be so much turmoil in the education policy world.