The state of Illinois saved $2.4 million a year by cutting standardized writing exams from high school classrooms earlier this month. In today’s workforce an essential skill is writing, especially when cover letters, emails and other written correspondence can either get you in the door or shatter your chances before ever turning the knob.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find employment, and with the unemployment rate reaching a staggering 9.2 percent last month, every advantage is needed to break into the ring. But, with the omission of standardized tests for high schoolers and a growing tendency to write shorthanded texts, where will the ability to write and think past 140 characters go?
While joining the gainfully employed is important, as is writing and reading, the real question the staff at District has is whether or not standardized writing exams are even effective. The College Board added the writing section to the SAT’s in 2005. The National Council of Teachers of English, in a 2005 study found that “the writing test will be neither a valid measure of a students’ overall writing ability nor a reliable predictor of students’ college performance.”
In addition, the study found that teaching the English language will become more geared toward these tests and passing them, rather than honing the learning of essential mechanics and foundations.
While these tests may not be a good judge of a students’ writing ability, practice in the field is important. If these tests are omitted, stricter Language Arts and English programs should be taught in their place. In their absence, teachers, faculty and schools can veer away from preparing for standardized tests, and head back to teaching the ABC’s of writing and grammar; not the ABC’s of passing the SAT’s.
