Standardized Testing is not a Gauge of a Student´s Knowledge

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Recommended: Effectiveness of standardized testing

American Literature

Testing the nation(must change)

“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.”

Standardized testing has had a negative impact on the US educational system.

Standardized testing alone is not an accurate gauge of a students overall knowledge. We start indoctrinating our children in the first grade with standardized testing to prepare them for the next 11 years of testing. These tests put a lot of undo stress on students to preform well on standardized tests throughout the year. While some students are excellent test takers others become over whelmed with the process and fail to rise to their true academic level. “On Mar. 14, 2002, the Sacramento Bee reported "test-related jitters, especially among young students, are so common that the Stanford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it."” Stress from theses tests have become so common that there are now instructions on how to deal with it. It is no longer just taking the test for students, but learning to preform under the stress and anxiety brought by the test. “Critical thinking cannot be tested accurately using standardized tests. Also many students who have grasped the main topics and concord the materials have not scored well on these tests due to stress anxiety.” A student is made up of more than just a number, for each student has creativity and personality that can never be measured by a standardized test. A student may be failing a class but it is the most challenging class in the school. It is not that that person is a bad student they are just taking a very challenging class. The same can be said for s...

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...rectly, it is telling our children at a young age that in life there is only a correct and incorrect answer. In this world there are multiple answers to ever question because people can look at a situation differently. Also if two students think differently they may get different answers. These tests are not judging your ability to think or comprehend the overall concept just the ability to reiterate information that was already given to you. “A national 2007 study by the Center on Education Policy reported that since 2001, 44% of school districts had reduced the time spent on science, social studies and the arts by an average of 145 minutes per week in order to focus on reading and math.” [1] No only is the curriculum changing but the teachers are as well. Standardized testing is now used to judge teachers abilities. This can result in raises or termination.

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