Argumentative Essay On Standardized Testing

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Since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) passed in 2002, annual standardized testing is mandated in every state. Now, students take one hundred twelve standardized tests from pre-k to their Senior year; however, American students’ rankings dropped or remained stagnant in almost every subject when compared to their peers around the world. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed in late 2015, did not change America’s standings significantly. Lower-class schools are especially affected by the increase in standardized tests combined with a lack of resources. Standardized tests should not be used to measure students’ academic growth or teachers’ success in the American schooling system. Instead of increasing student aptitude and proving …show more content…

It forces districts to test students throughout elementary and high school with detailed score reports; states are allowed to choose which test to use. The goal is to bring students to a state-defined level of proficiency; schools who reach this proficiency level repeatedly or who have higher test scores receive more money than those who do not (Klein). By not creating or choosing a standardized test that every state takes, the government allows textbook publishers to exploit mandatory testing. Publishers such as Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and CTB McGraw-Hill create the tests, the materials used to study for them, and also grade tests; in this way they control what a good score is. Each publisher knows what the book they make contains, and if test takers do not use that source, they are more likely to get a lower score even if they understand the material (Broussard). Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and CTB Mcgraw Hill are three of the most popular publishers in the United States but “In the 2014-15 school year, 401 unique tests were administered across subjects in the 66 Great City School systems.”(Council of Great City Schools). This is a glaring pitfall in the act for low-income students in urban areas; not being able to buy a textbook means not achieving proficiency. Ultimately, this leads to low income schools not receiving the funding needed to improve test scores, and the students only continue to fall

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