Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

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Recommended: The importance of standardized tests

Currently standardized tests like the SAT and the ACT are used to judge ability and skill of students applying to colleges. These tests consist of English, Math, reading, science and writing sections. These sections are composed of multiple choice questions, that are meant to asses the skill level of these students.
Resolved: that the United States should adopt a portfolio method for evaluating students, and their skill level instead of current standardized testing system.
Standardized tests for colleges such as a SAT and ACT have been used for years, but are they really accurate representations of intelligence, knowledge, skills, drive? No. All These standardized tests measure your ability to memorize words, read graphs, remember and learn, specific pieces of information. Standardized tests only count certain aspects of what is educationally meaningful. They do not measure leadership, curiosity, self discipline, creativity, or motivation. According to the Washington Post, studies show that standardized tests do not actually represent how well a student would succeed in college or how they will succeed in life.
Sadly The factor that most prominently influences these test scores is not necessarily a students ability, but the income of the family, and how much they can afford to tutor. According to Bob Schaeffer, the public educational leader of National Center for Fair and Open Testing, or FairTest, an organization striving to make these tests accessible and fair; families that can afford a $1000, $5000, or even in some cases $15000 tutoring have a significant leg up, and higher numbers when it comes to scores. Now what if there was a gifted child, whose family could not afford to get a tutor, or know how to educate their c...

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...d for them, you can't completely focus on your #2 pencils and bubbles. Or say someone recently died in your family, a sibling, a parent, or a friend. How could you possibly be fully concentrated on this test. Some say that it's just a test and there are stressful situations of loss throughout life, but these situations do not in the same way decide your future, or categorize you as a standardized test would.

The portfolio system would greatly benefit many people because there are clearly too many flaws in this standardized testing process of filling your "knowledge" into a circle. But maybe the greatest flaw with the standardization of these tests is simply that they are so standard, while we are not standard, as Einstein said "“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.”

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