High Stakes Assessment---Opinions differ from each other

---Yanhua Wang

I grow up in a country  where tests used to be the only way to judge a student’s academic performance. I took so many tests that I felt myself grow numb in taking tests. I was like many students that had no idea if tests motivated us to study harder or it’s the only way schools and parents pushing us forward.

I know that students in the US have to take SAT to apply for colleges. The score of SAT may not be the only reference that colleges enroll their students, but we all know that it’s an important element. A long time ago, I took my college entrance exam and it’s the only way for me and for 99% of the high school students to colleges.

The National Higher Education Entrance Examination  commonly known as Gaokao  is an academic examination held annually in China. This examination is a prerequisite for entrance into almost all higher education institutions at the undergraduate level. It is usually taken by students in their last year of senior high school, although there has been no age restriction since 2001. From the first day on in high school, everyone knows that the only target is to get higher scores as possible in Gaokao. some 9.4 million students took the test this year, competing to get into the country's top universities amidst incredible pressure from their parents and families. Students studied non-stop for a year, sat in class from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., plowed through "tons of homework." Then it all came down to one big series of tests for 9.4 million stressed-out Chinese students.Some people describe it as the “competitive exam” in the world.

                                           

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

I have friends whose daughters had or are going to take SAT for college entrance in the US. But I still can tell the differences between Gaokao and SAT. They are hard working, too. But they don’t have much pressure as Chinese high school students. I then find out why. Unlike the Gaokao, the SAT is offered multiple times per year. This means that if you don't do as well as you might like on the first time you take the SAT, you can always just schedule yourself to take the test again on another testing date farther down the road. So in the end, you should be viewing the SAT as an additional opportunity for yourself, and not as another test to stress over and worry about.

Let’s come back to the Gaokao, even with lots of criticism saying that college enrollment should consider other aspects instead of the exam results, people still believe Gaokao exam is the fairest to change one’s destiny, especially those who come from the remote area. Because many kids from poorer families have the gaokao as the only path to change their destiny.After years of reform and educational progress, the odds of success for grassroots students are much higher. Though the gaokao is a very narrow path, rural children embrace it as the best chance to enjoy a better life in future. Though many believe the exam-centered mindset does no good to youngsters' creativity, any radical change will spawn a public backlash as the gaokao is still widely regarded as the fairest means of selection. At least 70% of the young people experienced Gaokao, and they all know how uneasy lives were in high school. But survey indicated that 85% of the people agree to keep Gaokao.  The system has been tested and improved over the past decades, so it is better to stick to it if a multi-evaluation cannot guarantee a strict and transparent process with supervision, otherwise many disadvantaged people may lose their chance to get enrolled.

Time flies, my kid now goes to elementary school. He seems to enjoy school life. Up till now, I received an email from school about a math test-- IREADY SCORE.  It’s a mathematics assessment  allows teachers and parents to better understand students’  performance compared to national peers at the same grade level and students’  grade level performance based on school district  curriculum. For example, a student in grade 3 who has a percentile rank of 85 on the fall assessment performed in the top 15 percent nationally while also scoring in the“Meeting” level at that time in grade 3. Another test--STAR Reading Assessment is for grade 3-8. Through the test, I can better know how is my kid doing in math. I believe that school, teachers, parents and students have no pressure for the scores. Happily learning and making progress is my expectation to my kids. I hope that students far in China can enjoy the process of learning instead of torturing by test to test.

References:

1.National Higher Education Entrance Examination. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Higher_Education_Entrance_Examination

2.Xinhua Insight: Gaokao exam still fairest to change destiny. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2016, from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-06/08/c_135423243.htm

3.Differences Between the Gao Kao and the SAT in China. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2016, from https://www.petersons.com/college-search/sat-china-chinese-international-students.aspx