When was the last time a test really measured learning, instead of student memory? Learners must complete daily homework, fortnightly assignments, mid-term exams, mock exams, and then final exams to progress to the next grade. This is a big ask, especially from young minds.
According to Brighterly, 13-70% students experience symptoms of test anxiety, which leads to further complications like less concentration in lectures and slow cognitive functioning. Assessments are designed to evaluate students, not put them under extreme pressure. The Educators should ask themselves, “Are we testing the students or making them overburdened with so many tasks?”
Why High-Stakes Testing Leads to Mental Fatigue?
High-stakes assessments are critical for students, as their session-long progress depends on these summative events. Moreover, a student’s grade promotion depends heavily on these exams, creating constant fatigue in students’ minds, which are built to develop and not be stressed. One of the severe impacts of prolonged, high-stakes assessments is the psychological impact, which becomes the root cause of mental fatigue.
Early Psychological Impact
It’s an agreed fact by tutors and parents that high-stakes assessments become the major source of increased student anxiety and decreased confidence. Students have to go through panic, anxiety, headaches, and loss of sleep while dealing with examinations backed by high stakes.
Thus, the real question is “Are we overtesting the students and making them hate learning?” As Edutopia mentions, when students were asked to visually define their testing experiences in the shape of drawings, they drew stressed art, clearly reflecting nervousness. Most of the imagery had angry or sad faces, portraying how they view examinations.
Negative Impacts of Over-testing the Students
Assessments are aimed at tracking the progress of your students through different means of questions or activities. It does not involve stressing the students at any point, instead providing them with challenges where they can prove themselves, without freaking out about the high-stakes results. Here are the negative impacts of overtesting the students:
01 Increased Anxiety
The more frequently a teacher conducts tests, the more stressed students become. Regular testing hinders student performances, leading to demotivation in learning. Your students should actively take part in assessments and not run from them.
According to OECD: On average, around 59% of students reported that they worry about taking a test, 66% worry about getting poor grades
According to Research by IOMC World, out of 614 students, 82.6% reported test anxiety (i.e., some level of anxiety).
02 Reduced Instructional Time
A great amount of instructional time gets reduced due to increased testing. Teachers consume a lot of time preparing for the tests and informing the students about assessment protocols. Thus, the actual teaching time gets reduced in the process.
According to EducationWeek, seven in 10 teachers, and 55% of administrators, said state accountability tests take too much time away from learning.
03 Demotivated Students
Overtesting leads to decreased student morale. The high-stakes tests create a stressful environment for the students, causing even the bright students to be anxious about test results. Such a morale suppressor leads the student to hate learning.
According to Research, a study found that after a high-stakes English test, student motivation dropped from 79% to 30%, while over half felt discouraged.
According to ASCD: A meta-synthesis on high-stakes testing in 18 U.S. states found that such tests “decrease student motivation” and increase dropout/early-leaving risk.
Reasons for Over-testing the Students
Schools that follow conventional teaching practices believe in the concept of frequent testing. They believe students’ memory enhances with regular tests.
Here are some of the reasons why schools organize frequent testing for the students:
01 Enhancing Motivation
It is believed that frequent testing motivates the students to study at regular intervals and prepare for the examinations. Thus, they are constantly urged to work hard because of the consistent evaluations they have to go through.
02 Evaluating Accountability
Frequent assessments allow the teachers to also test the students’ learning. This helps a teacher figure out where a student currently stands and assess whether they are ready to progress further or not.
03 Standardization and Comparison
Generating comparison results becomes easier with more testing. A teacher can easily compare the students on the basis of their overall scores and create ranks to distinguish their performances.
What Should Teachers Do Instead?
Teachers must begin with a slow approach toward a change in their teaching style and test the students less frequently. They should look to employ different strategies that make learning and testing fun for the students by incorporating game-based activities. Conducting low-stakes quizzes with interactive features helps the students stay more involved in assessments. Plus, quick-fire questions are also a great example to engage learners, leading to enhanced class participation.
School teachers can also look for other measures to evaluate their students in the shape of formative assessments or low-pressure activities. Furthermore, using tools like retrieval practice apps or gamified learning platforms creates an impactful learning environment for all learners.
Final Thoughts
This blog is not to discourage the teachers or school stakeholders. It’s simply aimed at highlighting the fact that frequent and meaningless assessments turn active learners into demotivated ones.
No matter what, the teachers still have to assess their students daily to critically evaluate what they learnt from everyday lessons. They should adopt modern-day question techniques to design assessments that are not a burden on the students, but rather engage them to stay attentive and participate actively.
When done right, assessment becomes a natural part of the teaching–learning journey. It helps guide teachers to shape their methods for the greatest impact on student growth.
