Standardized testing is a major part of the education in the public schools and in our society today. It is used to determine student achievement, growth, and progress. However, is a strong standardized testing program the best way to improve education? This question has been a controversial argument that existed among educators for decades. No Child Left Behind, some educators and politician believe that a strong standardized testing program is the best way to improve education because it serves as a guidance to help them in determining what and when to teach students. It keeps teachers and the schools accountable to give an accurate comparison between states and subgroups. However, other educators believe that standardized testing is not …show more content…
Some might argue that standardize testing is reliable because the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent (Gawthrop 5). However, standardized testing evaluates the student’s performance on one particular day and does not take into account external factors (Columbia University 1). Some of external factors can be distraction caused by personal problems and sickness. In addition, students might have relationship issues, and family emergency that negatively affects them during the test day. The student also might not try hard to take the test because of their lack of interest in taking the test. A strong standardized testing program would not reduce the influence of external factors. Therefore, test score would not be consistent and so the test is not really reliable. Standardized test score does not reflect the full potential of the students’ knowledge on the given day for a short period of …show more content…
All students, regardless of their race, background, ethnicity, native language, socioeconomic status or any disabilities, they must take the test (Gensler 11). English language learners generally perform lower than non-ELL students on reading, science, and math (Abedi 231). Special educators now feel an intense amount of pressure for their students to perform at the level of their peers, even if their students’ disabilities inhibit them from doing so (Gensler 12). Some might argue that standardize testing provide accurate comparisons between subgroups. This provides schools with data to develop programs and services directed at improving scores in these sub-groups (Columbia University 1). However, poor standardized test score can increase the schools risk losing their federal funding, and teachers risk of losing their jobs. If 95% of each of the subgroups do not pass their annual standardized tests, the schools will suffer great consequences, where in extreme cases, may end in the state take-over of a school (Gensler 12). Students with special needs and teachers should not feel negative and helpless because of the things that they cannot change or control. Standardized testing program must make necessary modification and accommodation to satisfy everyone’s needs. Dictionary, whisper phones, extra time and simplifying the test are some of the
Michele Obama once stated, “If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn 't be here. I guarantee you that.” The First Lady is, in other words, to say that standardized testing was a major factor into her life’s outcome and her scores could have potentially not put her in her position of power that she is highly recognized in today’s society. Although standardized tests do play a large role in any college application, standardized testing may not count as much toward one’s college admissions or success because standardized tests are not the only factor toward college applications, these tests only benefit a specific target group of people, and standardized tests are better used for giving insight on one’s
This is precisely the problem. Standardized tests are old and outdated, and the harm they cause to America’s education system by far outweighs the benefits. These tests were intended to monitor and offer ways to improve how public schools function, but instead they have impaired the natural learning ability of students and imposed upon the judgment of experienced educators. Although a means to evaluate the progress of public schools is necessary, it is also necessary to develop more modern and effective ways of doing so. Standardized testing mandated by the federal and state governments has a negative effect on the education of America’s youth.
The current education system implemented by most schools measures a student’s progress using two methods: letter grades and standardized tests. However, the pressure put on students to achieve high grades causes standardized tests to be overlooked throughout the school year. Because of this, students enter tests with false hopes of scoring well when in reality they are severely underprepared. Honor roll students with perfect GPA’s can score in the average percentile if they are not adequately exposed to the test material. Schools should put a larger emphasis on preparation for standardized tests so students will be better equipped to take these tests and receive a score that more accurately reflects their knowledge.
Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the sentiments of the authors and their insight into standardized examination. The articles provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that standardized tests are not effective at measuring a teacher’s competency because they do not take into account the school environment and its effect on the students.
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.
Some may say standardized tests are a wonderful thing for schools to test their students but I'm here to tell you why they are bad. The standardized tests have too many problems that need to be changed. There is problems with how many are taken and they need to be fixed. There are too many problems with these tests and the government needs to modify them. So this essay will explain that standardized tests are bad and they need to be fixed, because kids take too many of them, countries who take less are outscoring us, and they are too low quality.
Standardized testing assesses students, teachers, and the school itself, which puts a great deal of pressure on the students. High scores show that the school is effective in teaching students, while low test scores make teachers and schools look as though they are not teaching the students properly. This is not always the case. There are teachers who do teach students what they need to know to pass the test, but their students are still unprepared. Although teachers try to improve instruction, student performance is still variable to other factors that the school cannot control.
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
Parents and advocates of education can all agree that they want their students to be in the best hands possible in regards to education. They want the best teachers, staffs, and schools to ensure their student’s success. By looking at the score results from standardized testing, teachers can evaluate effectively they are doing their job. On the other side, a proponent for eliminating standardized testing would argue that not all students care passionately about their education and will likely not perform to expectations on the test. However, receiving the numerical data back, teachers can construe the student’s performances and eliminate the outliers of the negligent kids. Teachers can then look at the individual scores and assign those outliers to get the help they need in school. This helps every student getting an equal chance at education. Overall, taking a practice standardized test can let a teacher look at individual questions and scores and interpret what they need to spend more time on teaching. A school also can reap the benefits from standard testing to ensure they are providing the best possible education they can. The school can look at the average scores from a group and hold the teacher accountable for the student’s results on the test. The school can then determine the best course of action to pursuit regarding the teacher’s career at the school. By offering teachers and schools the opportunity to grow and prosper, standardized testing is a benefit for the entire education
Argument Against Standardized Testing President Bush is promoting annual standardized testing for all students in grades three through eight. This bill is currently being considered in Congress, and has garnered much support. As of right now, 15 states test students in those grades, and more than 20 have high school exit exams, which look only at the test score of a student, not at his or her academic achievements. Standardized testing is an unfair and inaccurate form of judging a person’s intellect. In many cases, people are either over- or underrepresented by their test scores, partly because America does not currently have the capabilities to fairly score the increasing number of tests.
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Standardized testing puts unnecessary pressure on students and does not have any real benefits to helping students learn better. Standardized testing places all students in the same category of intelligence and does not show the individual’s true potential. Schools spend weeks before the test are administered to prepping students, so students will not fail. If standardized testing was a method that worked well children would not weeks of classroom time to prepare for the test. If the tests were organized according to the right age group it would not take hours to prep students they would already have the information necessary to perform well on the test.
There are pros to standardized examinations as tools for gaining information about student’s literacy strengths and weaknesses that can influence instruction. A pro to standardized examinations is that every student in the same state will take the same tests. This allows a precise comparison between schools. There are negatives to this comparing schools in this manner. These are that some schools or specific educators are obligated to teach to the test. Educators are suffering from an extreme amount of pressure to prove they are effective educators. Regrettably, the primary statistic judged is the success of their student’s performance on these standardized examinations. Some school reprimand there educator if too many students fail thus, scaring educators to teach to the test.
Standardized testing has been around for many years. It first started out in China, testing out their knowledge of Confucian philosophy and poetry, says TIME magazine. In 1905 French psychologist Alfred Binet developed the first standardized test of intelligence, which is now the modern day IQ test. Ever since World War I standardized testing was a standard practice. These test were used to determine the assignment of U.S. servicemen jobs during the war. There has been a debate recently, asking if standardized testing is showing the true ability of the students and are the students missing out on beneficial lessons because they are only being taught to pass a test.
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.