BY DANIELLE GIANNANDREA
Staff Writer
Why do high school students have to take the CAST test if it does not affect their futures? As seniors, how we perform on the CAST does not affect our lives in any way. Teachers have expressed to their students that the only reason why we are required to take this test is to help the state know how well our schools are teaching their students. The teachers also explained that this testing is just another way for our school to receive more money to help our science programs.
Another reason why a lot of the seniors do not understand why we have to take the CAST is because as seniors in high school, a majority of students are not actively in a science class. Many students finished their science requirements by their junior or senior year. Our school years have also been interrupted due to the pandemic, causing learning to become a lot harder.
I have witnessed many students rushing through the science test and guessing, just to get it finished. I believe that if the school wants to help improve the number of students that try hard on their test and take it seriously, they need to offer incentives. I also believe that it would be best not to give this test to seniors because many seniors do not want to try on the test. Many seniors have already gotten into their college and started to give up in high school with the last few months they have left.
Overall, I think that the CAST test is unnecessary and will only help the school district, not us students. There are multiple other ways that the state could handle helping our science programs out and the CAST test is simply not effective.