THE IMPACT OF STANDARDIZED TESTING ON THE RACIAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALES ATTENDING MIDDLE SCHOOL

The zero-sum game of education is supported by the implementation standardized testing in a manner that disenfranchises Black students. While assessments are accountability tools for ensuring rigorous teaching and for measuring student learning, the impact of these tests on students’ identity needs to be examined. The demands of a knowledge-based economy lend themselves to an overwhelming emphasis on grades and test scores and neglect the development of students’ cognitive reasoning, social skills and their sense of self. Research has shown that standardized testing does not promote educational equity and perpetuates oppression of Black people (Toldson, 2019). As Black men navigate a society that vilifies them as dangerous criminals and socially isolates them, this same attitude can be found in the classroom where Black boys often experience the low expectations that impact their self-esteem and identity. These perceptions carry over into the self-concept of Black adolescent boys when they take standardized tests. Racial identity development is impacted by the encounters that Black adolescent boys have in society and in schools. The impact of testing on their racial identity and the importance of racial identity development to their academic and overall success must be examined to provide them with equitable academic opportunities. In this mixed methods study, quantitative data from the Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (RIAS), standardized test data from NWEA Measures of Academic Progress, and standardized alternative assessment data, is intersected with qualitative data from interviews with Black middle school boys, to examine the impact of their experiences with standardized testing on their racial identity. The intervention involves the exploration of alternative ways to assessing student learning that affirms racial identity and suggests that schools reexamine how academic progress is measured.