Students need incentives to put effort into STAR

May 7, 2010

Jordan Brahaney

We take the STAR test every year, and while some of us take pride in how well we can do on the week long test, others seem to enjoy filling in their bubbles into the shape of boats and happy faces.

There are few incentives for people to strain themselves on the test. We rely on people to be motivated through pressure coming from their parents or peers, or the posters and announcements we observe in the weeks preceding the STAR test. It is easy to call the students who choose not to give their all on the test “slackers,” but to me that is a pretense that is met without real consideration of what the STAR test really means for the individual and the school itself.

Good scores on the STAR test improve our rank in the state, and can help to give the school a bigger budget. The higher our score is, the more money we get. This is great, but most of us will be gone before the effects of an increased budget can be noticed.

I don’t see the random numbers we are asked to attain as further incentive to push ourselves. I have never before heard of the number 801 being something that should be achieved, and I’m confident that the number will fall back into obscurity as this year passes. The idea behind the number is clear: to give people a goal to shoot for, but the number 801 has no real meaning that people can relate to.

Incentives could make the test more effective in measuring student’s abilities, and would make people want to do well on the test. In the past, the Governor’s Scholarship Programs provided a $1,000 scholarship to students who scored high on the STAR test, while the Governor’s Distinguished Mathematics and Science Scholars Award could provide a possible $2,500 scholarship. People personally benefiting from doing well would be the best way to motivate students to improve their test scores.

With the loss of the Governors scholarship, a disconnection developed between the STAR test and its impact on college. Without the link to college and student’s futures, a drop in motivation on the test should has been an expected outcome. College is a high priority for students, and a test that has no real impact on college is shovelled to the back of priorities as unnecessary.

To say the least I have mixed emotions about the STAR test. I personally tried my best every year I took it; I even read, sometimes multiple times, all of those boring, often corny little articles that were followed by response questions. But every year I sweated over my answers, I asked myself “why?” The STAR test in many ways is a sad reminder of exactly how over-tested our generation has become.

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