It is the time of the year that stresses everyone out. Many students do not understand why we do state testing, or if there is any importance to them. State tests do not only affect students but, also teachers.

Some students stress over state tests, and others just brush it off. Students start state testing in 3rd grade. Younger students often stress about it more than high schoolers. Throughout the years as students, we find out that state tests do not count towards our grades in school.  

Teachers often do not get to go into depth of what they are teaching. Throughout the years teachers learn what all they have to teach to get students prepared in such a short period of time for state testing. Teachers cannot be as creative with their activities as they would if we did not do state testing.

“I understand why we take state tests, because it shows how much we have learned over the years,” Billie Cajero, 11th grader, said.

“I do not worry about state tests at all,” Shy Cauble, 11th grader, said.

“We do state tests so that the state is able to figure out our reading level to see if we are able to get our permits,” Ashlyn Ruiz, 8th grader, said.

“I think that if I go into the test not worrying I will do better in the end. Spending all day worrying about the test may make me do bad on the test,” Alex Schaumberg, 8th grader, said.

“Performance on a state test should have nothing to do with the students’ performance in a classroom setting. Some kids just aren’t good test takers. Taking their depth of knowledge from one test doesn’t accurately portray how they would do in your class that is a year long,” Mrs.Thompson, high school math teacher, said.

“State tests make me a less creative teacher because I have to spend my time teaching standardized questions. Instead, I have to spend less time teaching what I want to teach. I can’t teach the creative side of history or go into details,” Mrs.Heath, high school history teacher, said.   

Although it can be stressful and we often worry about state tests, it is really nothing to stress about.