Mandatory annual testing involves a significant loss of instructional time during the regular elementary school year. The time spent reading directions, distributing and collecting test materials each day takes valuable instructional time from a critical age in student development. The National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families labels infancy through the early grade school years the "critical period," and notes children develop brain functions that last a lifetime during these years. Sensory, motor, emotional and intellectual experiences and instruction contribute to building important brain synapses. The weeks of class periods spent taking high-stakes tests rob elementary students of valuable synapse-building activities.
The pressure on districts, schools and teachers to post high student scores on high-stakes tests leads administrators and instructors to focus on test-taking techniques and strategies for test success. This major focus on testing often means eliminating the time spent teaching subject areas not included on the exams, including communication, history and art. Tests focus on math, language arts and writing, all valuable skills, but elementary-level students also need to understand and appreciate other school subjects. The Wilson Quarterly notes students average weeks, and sometimes months, of classroom time preparing for high-stakes tests.
Standardized tests unfairly judge a number of elementary school students. Not all young students show uniform progress during primary grades, and high-stakes testing penalizes late-blooming students or children with learning disabilities. The biological development for young boys, for instance, frequently means lagging behind in reading, according to educational researchers Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. The National Institutes of Health also note that the child's attention span, coping skills and unrelated stresses, including bullying, affect the child's ability to perform well on standardized tests. These factors are unrelated to the child's knowledge of information asked on high-stake exams.
Testing places unnecessary pressure on students who lack test-taking skills or have yet to develop academic coping skills in the elementary grades. The exams also place unnecessary stress on students with special needs who may or may not have the ability to pass the test but must take the exam under the state laws demanding educational inclusion of all students. Jacquelynne S. Eccles, professor of psychology and education at the University of Michigan, notes that children during the elementary grades develop a sense of competency and self-awareness by comparing themselves with peers. High-stakes testing frequently undermines building self-esteem in young students failing to meet the high standards set by teachers and schools.