Pencils: The New Standard in Standardized Testing

The room is deathly quiet, except for the ticking of the clock. In front of you, a sealed test packet rests on your desk. Your fingers hover over two freshly-sharpened number two pencils. You hold your breath. The teacher says, “You may begin,” and suddenly you’re ripping open that packet and tearing through questions like it’s the testing equivalent of the Indy 500. This is a scenario most of us remember well, but today’s students may face a different reality as standardized testing moves to computers.

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is taken on a computer, and now other standardized tests are being given in schools on computers as well. Proponents of the move tout its benefits – no issues with stray pencil marks, improved accuracy with grading, instant scoring results, and adaptive questions – that is, questions that increase in difficulty as students answer correctly, and decrease in difficulty as students answer incorrectly. Some tests even consider the amount of time it takes a student to answer each question as part of the score. It’s an upsetting trend for students, parents, and educators alike, but don’t panic just yet.

Some schools that have moved away from pencil-and-paper testing are switching back, and for good reason. Proponents of the move to computers argue that scoring accuracy is improved because computers remove the risk of human error, but they say nothing about computer error. Many testing programs are still new technology, and as such, they contain glitches. Scoring errors will be much more difficult to catch with computers doing all of the calculation. In addition, many schools do not have the technology – the level or the amount – to support computerized testing.

The biggest issue of all, however, is the negative effect of computerized testing on students. Students as young as four years old are being required to take computerized tests, for which they have neither the experience with technology nor the attention span nor the emotional maturity to handle – many of them end up in tears during the process. We have a tendency to think that babies born after 2007 came out of the womb with an iPhone in their hands, but the truth is that there is still a technology gap, and students with regular access to computers are going to do better on these tests than students without – including low-income students. In addition, instant results mean that students can and will compare their scores. Even in college, my self-esteem hinged on my GRE score for weeks. I can only imagine how that number will affect younger students

This is a serious issue which will probably be up for debate many times as technology continues to advance, but I for one will always vote for the pencil. Students have enough anxiety when it comes to test-taking. The least we can do is let them use their lucky pencil in a testing format that is familiar. Readers, do you agree? I’d love to read your take in the comments.