Standardized testing has been around since the industrial age where we began to see children returning from the factory to classrooms. After not being in the classroom for months or years, these kids were behind their grade levels’ skill set (Lee). The standardized test was introduced as a way to determine these missing skills. Unfortunately, the use of standardized testing has grown into the key assessment for students, teachers, schools, states, and countries. Such high stakes testing creates a learning environment where creativity is limited and stress is high for both students and teachers. Many schools have become less focused on learning and more on the memorization of test materials. Although many administrators and lawmakers believe standardized testing is a good way to evaluate student progress and teacher performance, standardized tests can create additional stress, loss of creativity, enjoyable educational circumstances and can be biased against certain students.
One thing that is sacrificed for testing is creativity. Students are taught the specific amount of material for the subjects that will be tested. This limits the ability for subjects like music and art to be a part of the daily classroom experience. Creativity is important because when a child is learning
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These tests are compromising the education system. They force teachers to teach to the test instead of letting them use creativity to educate their students. These tests make school a stressful environment for both teachers and students. Standardized tests provide a bias against children who do not speak English, have a disability, or come from low income families or schools. Although these tests do make it easier to rank schools and teachers, these tactics do not always provide the correct information. Standardized tests are harming the American education system more than they are
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
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
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.
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.
Current educational policy and practice asserts that increased standardized student testing is the key to improving student learning and is the most appropriate means for holding individual schools and teachers accountable for student learning. Instead, it has become a tool solely for summarizing what students have learned and for ranking students and schools. The problem is standardized tests cannot provide the information about student achievement that teachers and students need day-to-day. Classroom assessment can provide this kind of information.
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.
Standardized testing was implemented through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The main purpose of these tests was to “ensure that students in every public school achieve important learning goals while being educated in safe classrooms by well-prepared teachers,” (Yell). Even though the government may have had good intentions about this program, it has taken a turn for the worst. These tests are actually impairing and inhibiting the educational growth of students because teachers have to teach to the test and not stray from the boundaries at all for fear of low test grades. This may sound like a good thing to most people, but in all actuality, teachers are only teaching the students how to pass tests, not how to think critically and how to learn to love learning. An interview from seventh grade teacher Sherri Empey revealed how she felt about teaching to the test: “I cannot stray from teaching what is on the test at all for fear of having my students place low on the tests. This means that I can’t delve any deeper into any subjects and can only teach the bare minimum, or in other words, what is on the test. I have to pound these ideas into their heads to make sure they can pass ‘the standard,’” (Empey). Teaching to the test is replacing good teaching practices with “drill n’ kill” rote learning.
How would you feel if your perfect one hundred was ruined by a 60 you got on a test?
In our statistically driven world, comparing one thing to another is what we humans gravitate towards. Whether it be an apgar test to a minutes-old newborn, a rankings list for the world’s best colleges, or a restaurant star-ranking system, humans often force objectified statistics onto complex and subjective situations. Unfortunately, this stressful practice is imposed the most onto young students, whose numerous, dynamic years of learning and growing are often crammed into a score out of 36. Given the obscene pressure and stakes this has on a student’s reputation, standardized tests need to be exactly what they claim to be: standardized. Although more restrictive policies should be implemented, time extension opportunities are essential in ensuring a fair chance for all to demonstrate the skills being tested. Only then, is a
One of the biggest topics in the educational world is standardized tests. All fifty states have their own standards following the common core curriculum. There are many positives and negatives that go with the standardized tests. A standardized test is any type of “examination that's administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, 1999). These standardized tests are either aptitude tests or achievement tests. Schools use achievement tests to compare students.
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.
These tests are pressed upon not only the children, to see their rank in understanding the curriculum that is being thrust on them, but it is also pressed on the teachers. To be more specific, these tests change not only the way a teacher approaches the subject matter, they actually dictate what will be taught. This, in turn, leads to less time- if any time at all- that educators may pursue arts, extracurricular activities, or anything more in depth that could be seen as fostering a well-rounded curriculum. While others may argue that standardized testing is the best education style for children, that is not entirely so. Alicia Anthony of Oureverydaylife.com in her article “The Effects of Standardized Tests on Teachers and Students” further advocates my argument by expressing “Significant time is devoted to test preparation, including review worksheets and practice tests. These activities take away from higher-order thinking instruction, which has been proven to have more long-term benefits for students.” In essence, these tests are creating less time to dedicate to critical and creative