What Are The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

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“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” (Quotation attributed to Albert Einstein). This quote describes the horror that is standardized testing. These tests do not properly evaluate a student’s educational success level. They strain students to extremes and cause substantial learning consequences. The encumbrance of standardized tests has put too much pressure on students to succeed. All students are expected to take identical tests to determine how much they have learned, even though they are educated in different ways. These tests have several flaws and are not as credible as we believe them to be.
A standardized test is any type of test in which all aspects are identical, such as the questions, scoring method, and format. They are used to compare schools, students, and measure intelligence (Standardized Tests). The tests are formed by state educators who decide the information, and abilities important for each student. The result of these decisions are unfortunately “curricular wish lists” rather than “realistic targets” (Popham, James). This can be troublesome, with such requirements teachers do not have the time to teach the students each standard thoroughly enough for them to master it before the test. This also poses a problem for the students, as a student you are learning what your teacher feels is important and maybe not what the state educators feel. Also with different types of students there are different learning methods, backgrounds, and cultures (Popham, James). And the tests do not take into account the other factors that can hinder learning such as a bad home life which needs to be considered if "no children are to be...

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...fluences higher level thinking, creativity and strategies for solving problems (Popham, James). Instead of getting the students to regurgitate information when it is test day.
In conclusion standardized testing is not an accurate measure of a student’s educational success. One reason is because with all the different factors of student’s teachers and situations identical tests cannot correctly measure how much the student is learning. Also the consequences of preparing and teaching for the test causes severe stress and anxiety to some children. The tests also have many flaws, some may be fixed but it would be a high cost. If these tests put such a strain on students, and do not measure intelligence correctly, they should not be as predominate a source for gauging educational growth. These things may never be changed but it is a big issue in today’s school systems.

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1149 Words | 3 Pages
In the United States of America, Standardized testing has become a way of life for students and children, especially in public schools. Many argue that standardized testing does not measure the students as a whole, takes up valuable classroom time, and creates drastic mental health problems in students and teachers. In recent years, a controversy surrounding the idea of standardized testing has been brought forth as something that needs to be changed or adapted to the growing needs of today’s students and this can be examined when exploring the negative effects, the testing has had on society’s future.
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1021 Words | 3 Pages
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
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Standardized tests should not be used to measure student proficiency. These tests are becoming much more challenging and high stakes, resulting in a significant amount of stress and anxiety in students. Standardized testing has become a huge weight on students which is leading to test anxiety. Jasmine Evans writes in her article “Problems With Standardized Testing,” from Education.com about critics of the No Child Left Behind, an act passed in 2001 one under the administration of George W. Bush, who say that there is a lot of pressure on teachers, students, and parents, and school officials as a result of these tests. They say the pressure to...
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1331 Words | 3 Pages
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2121 Words | 5 Pages
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760 Words | 2 Pages
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1599 Words | 4 Pages
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1331 Words | 3 Pages
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Standardized testing is not an effective way to test the skills and abilities of today’s students. Standardized tests do not reveal what a student actually understands and learns, but instead only prove how well a student can do on a generic test. Schools have an obligation to prepare students for life, and with the power standardized tests have today, students are being cheated out of a proper, valuable education and forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure to succeed are being devoted to standardized tests. Standardized testing, as it is being used presently, is a flawed way of testing the skills of today’s students.
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987 Words | 2 Pages
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What Are The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

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Opting Out Of Standardized Test Rizga Summary

The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing