The high
stakes tests required by No Child Left Behind are designed to increase the
number of failing schools (see here
and here),
thus forcing them to adopt free market reforms like reconstitution, charter
school conversion, or hiring private tutors and curriculum consultants.
However, as Valerie Strauss points out in a
recent piece in her Answer Sheet blog, the increasing emphasis on high stakes tests and the
pressure to improve scores may also be increasing student anxiety and their
ability to perform well on the exams.
Test anxiety
is considered a psychological condition that goes well beyond the typical
nervousness that most people experience before a test. Sufferers experience anxiety
so intense that it impairs their ability to recall basic facts, comprehend test
questions, and perform to their potential. Thus, the test results that are
being used to punish schools and districts and that are driving much of the
reform movement are likely skewed, making student achievement and school
quality appear much worse than they are.
Straus
points out that it is difficult to know exactly how pervasive the problem is,
but the American Test Anxiety Association believes as many as 20% of students
suffer from substantial test anxiety, while an additional 18% may experience
some degree of test anxiety. The problem may be becoming more prevalent because
of the intense emphasis schools and districts are placing on state and federal
exams. Competition for slots in high status universities may also be
contributing the problem by increasing the pressure to do well on SATs,
Advanced Placement and even course unit exams.
Strauss’
article provides some useful tips from Annie Murphy Paul, some of which I have
been using with my students to varying degrees of success. Paul’s first
suggestion is to “Unload on paper.” I call it a brain dump. The way it works is
that we review together before the test, and then I have students clear
everything from their desks, give them scratch paper and have them dump as much
onto their scratch paper as they can remember from review, lectures, and
homework before beginning the test. I even refrain from passing out the tests
for five minutes to give them time and encouragement to do this rather than
succumbing to the temptation to rush into the test to “get it over with.”
The
rationale for this strategy is that when students feel nervous, their thinking
becomes muddled and their ability to recall is hindered. Anxieties can use up
some of the working memory. By doing a “brain dump” prior to even seeing the
test, the stakes are lowered and the memories are fresher. It is kind of like
being given permission to use a cheat sheet or having open notes, either of
which can serve as a “crutch” that relaxes students by giving them the sense
they have extra support, thus relieving some of the anxiety.
Paul also
points to some research that showed positive effects from asking students to
write about their anxieties prior to a test. While seemingly counterintuitive
(i.e., this might heighten the cycle of negative thinking), studies show that
it actually improved test scores. One explanation is that it helps to affirm
and legitimize students’ feelings, which is an important step toward overcoming
negative thinking.
She also
suggests that test anxiety may be especially bad among girls and minority
students because of “stereotype threat,” the fear that poor test performance
will confirm negative stereotypes about their gender or race. Writing about such
feelings prior to taking the test may help affirm this kind of thinking, too,
and Paul points to a study that supports this hypothesis.
Paul’s final
suggestion is to lead students in relaxation exercises prior to exams, like a
guided meditation that focuses on breathing and body awareness. This is another
technique that I have been using for years, with varying degrees of success. Of
course it is important to have a plan for how to deal with the occasional
goof-offs who don’t take it seriously and disrupt the process for the others,
but, for the most part my students do take it seriously.
I regularly
debrief with my students after exams and find that the majority like the relaxation
exercises and believe they help. However, there are some who continue to do
poorly on exams, despite the relaxation exercises and brain dumps. I suspect
that some of this stems from intense pressure by parents to perform well or
from growing up around anxious parents. Therefore, like many aspects of school
success, test anxiety may be influenced more by outside of school factors than by
anything under the control of teachers.
So, aside
from the three strategies proposed by Paul, if we really care about students’
health and emotional wellbeing (not to mention their academic success), we need
to address these outside of school influences. One of the most expedient
solutions is to end the obsession with accountability and testing. Since NCLB
has done nothing to improve schools, and has almost certainly worsened them by
taking so much class time away from actual learning and by replacing thinking
and creativity with rote memorization and bubble-in testing, let’s simply do
away with it. By abolishing all high stakes exams we will lose nothing in terms
of school quality, but we will reduce some of the stressors contributing to
student anxiety (not to mention teacher anxiety) and allow schools to restore
much of the science, arts and physical education that were cut to make room for
more test preparation.
Another
solution is to change the way students apply for and are accepted to colleges.
Ideally, every student who wants to go to college should be able to go, even if
this means providing the remedial courses necessary for potential students who
are not yet academically ready and vastly increasing taxes (on the wealthy) to
pay for all the extra professors and classrooms. Doing this would significantly
reduce the anxiety that many students feel as a result of the competition for
scarce university slots. It would also increase the number of people with
college degrees and their economic opportunities.
Of course
the biggest influence on student anxiety may be their anxious parents. Children
pick up a lot from their families, particularly behaviors, social attitudes and
coping mechanisms (or lack thereof). Yet a lot adult anxieties stem from their
own material insecurity (e.g., how are we going to pay the mortgage with this
pay cut?) or from the burden of having too many personal, social and
work-related responsibilities (e.g., how am I going to get the kids to school
on time and not be late for work myself?) An increase in such anxieties is an
expected consequence of the rapidly increasing worker productivity that has
occurred over the last three decades, which has made the bosses richer by
squeezing more work and greater profits out of their employees per hour worked,
causing both a decline in living standards and a rise in work-related demands
and stress.
This source
of anxiety seems more intractable since a lasting solution requires the
abolition of wage labor and capitalism. However, short of this, gains could be
made through collective actions by workers to raise wages and improve working
conditions. Rather than simply giving the bosses the profits from our increased
productivity, we could demand shorter workdays or work weeks at the same or
higher pay. The Wobblies (IWW) use to call for a four hour work day and a four
day work week. This might seem like a fantasy in today’s economic and political
climate, but it is worth working toward as it would reduce (or end) unemployment,
provide us with more time to spend with friends, family and to pursue our
personal interests, while reducing anxiety and stress, thus improving overall health
and wellbeing,.
