Standardized Testing In Public Schools

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Standardized Testing
“64 percent of Americans (and 67 percent of public school parents) say there is “too much emphasis on testing (Walker).” Standardized testing assess how well schools are teaching the content that a state believe is necessary knowledge. Schools place so much emphasis on scoring well on state tests because the state governments began “specifying goals, measuring outputs to ascertain whether the government was spending money wisely, and holding educators and students accountable for their performance.” This idea has continued to be used, even though it has been refined (Firestone). The emphasis can cause issues in students, teachers, and school districts.
Students are strongly affected by state testing. Teachers make …show more content…

Similar to that of students, when their teaching methods do not match those that are needed for the students to test, teachers begin to struggle. The teachers are held the most accountable for the students’ performances. Multiple aspects contribute to a teacher’s ability to teach students the information they need for testing. Some of these aspects are: “accountability pressure, teacher attention to testing in instructional planning and delivery, time spent on test preparation, teachers' sense of professional pride, and general attitudes teachers hold about the fairness and utility of testing (Herman).”
Teachers may be evaluated based on the test scores their students receive. This would be a good way to assess a teacher’s capabilities, but unfortunately some students that have had educational setbacks may not care about the test or result, therefore causing a flaw. This causes more stress in the minds of teacher because they continue trying to make students enjoy learning, in order for the teacher to not only benefit but also the students to …show more content…

School districts are controlled by testing because it is how they get their funding. The article The Conflict Over Standardized Testing Is a Consequence of Government-Run Schools made a statement that displays this control, “If parents had full financial control of their children's education, they would judge for themselves the methods and policies of a given school; and if they disapproved of some aspect of a school (whether its testing procedures or anything else), they would be free to work out the issue directly with the school—or, if they deemed it necessary, move their child elsewhere.” However, this is not the case. Instead, schools are government-run and are required to do state testing and score well to obtain their funding. As a result school districts put extra emphasis on standardized testing to ensure they get their needed funding

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