Standardized tests have become so intense that they have taken the joy out of teaching and learning for both students and teachers. This pressure affects students performance on the test, therefore the testing can not be used as a gauge of their academic
Instead of getting the students to regurgitate information when it is test day. In conclusion standardized testing is not an accurate measure of a student’s educational success. One reason is because with all the different factors of student’s teachers and situations identical tests cannot correctly measure how much the student is learning. Also the consequences of preparing and teaching for the test causes severe stress and anxiety to some children. The tests also have many flaws, some may be fixed but it would be a high cost.
It used to be that students had to take standardized tests every year. The results of these tests said what school districts would get more money or less money for the next school year. And it would also tell schools and teachers if some students needed to be put into higher level programs such as gifted and talented or advanced placement courses or if they were having problems and should be put in special education. Even way back then, the whole thinking of giving more money to schools that score higher than schools that score lower seemed like a really dumb way to do things. Now, students have to do testing every time they turn around.
This semester in Education 101 I have learned a lot about different issues that occur in school settings. All of the issues are important but some are majorly more important than others. One is standardized testing which I can say is unfair testing because everyone learns in a different way and comprehend things differently this test caters to one style of learning. Bullying is another issue that is hard to address and hard to maintain but is very serious and takes place every day. Lack of family involvement is the one thing that matters the most because if a parent shows no interest in their children’s education the child will show no interest either.
The standardized test cost states $1.7 billion each year (Ujifusa 2012). That 's a bunch of money for some schools, especially the ones that already live in poverty. Look at the schools that barely have books, or the learning equipment they need to be able to teach their students. If they didn’t have to worry about paying for these unnecessary test they would be able to purchase more of the things they need to become a stronger school. It is not just the school that suffers, but also the community.
Because schools are getting more and more pressure put on them for their students to do well, teachers are also being put through the ringer. These teachers control 7-8 hours of children’s lives each day and are expected to use that time to prepare students to the best of their ability to make the school proud on these government mandated tests. What more could they want? Oh right, all of each kids home life time as well. There is something very wrong with a government program that puts so much pressure on schools that they feel 8 hours is not enough time to train a child.
Do standardized tests really improve the quality of public education? For years they have been used to judge schools' academic performance and assess the needs of students. No longer can illiterates be graduated from high school. No longer can teachers pass a student from one grade to another without having taught that student anything (Spellings). While these advances are beneficial, standardized exams often hurt already disadvantaged schools, promote states to lower their standards of education, and cause schools to focus more on the exams themselves rather than on their students' actual learning (Karp).
What the test may cover may not be what the students have learned in class. However, some critics feel “that standardized tests allow administrators, teachers, and parents the opportunity to view solid evidence of the students’ performance, which in turn could lead to curriculum changes” (Banta, p.1). Standardized tests also create unnecessary stress for students. These tests require students to study or cram for many hours and puts them in a demanding social setting where they are forced to answer difficult questions. Standardized testing was once a good idea, to test the students’ capabilities and to see how they compare with other districts, but teachers teach using different methods and focus on different issues.
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.
Bad stress can cause you to not perform at your highest level possible and it impairs your abilities (Exam Stress, 2014). Research is showing that college students are stressed t... ... middle of paper ... ...re equalized out, the grade earned only gives a short glimpse of a performance on one day that really could be tested throughout the year with the other alternatives that were listed above. There are so many other ways to test students and children now a days and our school systems need to start innovating. They need to stop using stuff from past years and learn to teach the kids new and more productive ways. Our students are being taught the test and not the actual subject.