Standardized Testing: Necessary Or Ineffective?

Almost everyone in the U.S. recognizes that standardized testing is a central part of the education system in our country. What many people don’t know though is the history of where it came from. Beginning in the mid-1800s prestigious universities decided they wanted to give more students across the country a better chance at going into higher education, but at the time there wasn’t a way to measure the capabilities of students in both high class and low class families. This is how standardized testing came into play. If a student could do well on these tests regardless of their financial position than their scores would hopefully speak for themselves. Although, now standardized testing

“Standardized testing has become the arbiter of social mobility, yet there is more regulation of the food we feed our pets than of the tests we give our kids ” (Schaeffer). Standardized tests have commonly been used to evaluate a student’s knowledge of a particular subject over the course of a class, or to compare students with one another. Therefore, standardized tests are being used to make serious decisions for students in 2014. Decisions such as grade promotion, high school graduation, and the college a student will or will not attend are among the life changing outcomes of a single standardized 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 are being forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure is being spent on preparing students for standardized tests. So much more is being sacrificed, for instance schools are cutting back on or even eliminating electives, programs in the arts and recess for young children. The focus on standardized tests is putting children in the 21st century at risk for emotional, psychological, and intellectual harm.

Standardized testing has become a yearly fixture in classrooms around the United States. Legislation such as No Child Left Behind holds educators and administrators responsible for the learning of students. One way to assess this learning is through the use of a standardized test, the results of which can be compared to a predetermined benchmark. I believe it’s a good idea to hold educators accountable for the work they perform in the classroom and to hold school administrators accountable for education outcomes. However, the means by which this accountability is currently being evaluated—standardized testing—is detrimental to both schools and students alike, and it should be discontinued. Standardized testing of young children produces potentially meaningless results, is potentially discriminatory against certain populations, and forces educators to modify their instruction (potentially for the worse) in an effort to avoid being punished for not meeting required benchmarks.

Exams are like your girlfriend. They ask way too many questions, they are difficult to understand, there is always more explanation needed, and of course the result is you always fail. I like to think this accurately describes how most people feel about standardized tests, but then again, I don't really think people ever feel fondly about a standardized tests. Now we have taken standardized test since elementary school so why do we all still suck at them? Let’s face it America has a pretty bad average on test taking skills. Maybe it's because of the fact that up until you’re a junior in high school none of those other standardized test matter. Those tests are basically just an excuse for you not to have to go through your normal boring school

Students spend hours cramming for the SAT and ACT each year in the hopes of earning an acceptance letter to a competitive college. But is the tide turning away from standardized exams?

Believe it or not, standardized test are not meant to torture you. Physicians, lawyers, real-estate brokers, doctors, and pilots all take high-stakes standardized tests to ensure they have the necessary intelligence for their careers. Also, Standardized tests hold teachers and schools accountable for actually teaching the students and if they teach them well. It also gives the teachers a guide on what to teach the students. The results that are sent home give the parent a good idea of how well their child is doing in class and on tests.

In the United States, standardized testing is used to measure how knowledgeable or unknowledgeable a person is in a particular subject. Standardized tests are exams designed to measure a student’s scholastic performance. These tests are a controversial issue, because some people feel the test do not show the students’ intelligence. I am one of these people. 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

The use of a standardized test in the education system seems to be extremely popular amongst schools in the United States. Their purpose is to grade a students’ academic performance through out the entire school year. Their involvement in the system has triggered much debated between instructors, scholars, and parents. Alongside much controversy surrounding these exams, teachers continue their use and it appears to be increasing instead of decreasing. With that being said, others consider the practice of a standardized test to be a fair form of comparison. Acknowledging its origin and its purpose for individual growth. Members who apprehend these sides of the argument reach out towards the opposed explaining their sympathy for it and recognize the concept of a standardized test as a tool for the improvement in the education system as a whole.

To test or not to test, this is currently a subject of an intense debate amongst parents, educators, and administrators in the domain of education. Unfortunately, providing teachers in the K-12 system the freedom to teach for the simplistic joy of teaching, does not typically hold educators accountable. Standardized testing is one of the necessary evils when it comes to the measurement of student achievement. While there are arguments on both sides of the subject concerning high stakes testing, there must be at least a designated method of standardized assessments in order to ensure students are prepared for their future, increase parents or guardian of their child’s academic measurements, and increase teacher accountability with respect to

This research examines the perceptions of standardized test administered in America’s public schools. Stiggins states that “these once-a-year tests are not likely to be of much value to classroom teachers as you plan and carry out day-to-day instruction. They are assessments of learning that are too infrequent, broad in focus, and slow in returning results to inform the ongoing array of daily decisions. But this does not mean that these tests are without purpose or value. They

Throughout the last century, American education has used standardized testing to assess the aptitudes and achievement of our students. These tests have been used to make informed decisions about curriculum and

Research Question: Why are students’ Standardized Test Scores the most important factor in evaluating a student when the overall results are not matching curriculum goals?

The headline of every newspaper said that there would no longer be children whose educations were being neglected within school systems of the United States. It had just become law that states must give standardized tests to ensure that every child was receiving an adequate education and learning the information necessary to succeed. However, the method of giving high-stakes tests has never been the most effective way to be updated on the progress society is making. These tests have several flaws such as their tendency to limit the material that students are being taught and their negative effects on the attitudes of students toward learning. Standardized testing has been proven to be more harmful to students and more inaccurate than originally anticipated, so they should be eliminated to improve the health and education of the United States’ students.

“STOP, put your pencil down and close your test booklet.”... words that are familiar to all students which have taken standardized tests. Public school students will take an average of 112 mandated standardized tests between pre-K and 12th grade. The number of standardized exams has escalated over the last decade, spurring many to question the effectiveness (Layton 1). Supporters of standardized testing recognize three main goals: measurement of student achievement, teacher and school accountability and consistency, but are these goal being accomplished. Research suggests that the goals of standardized test are not being met due to fundamental flaws which cause teachers to “teach” to the test. This will eliminate building of advanced curriculum by destroying innovation and creativity that foster a love for learning and teaching. Students have lost their ability to think critically and apply their learning ( Room 241 Team 5).

The implementation of standardized testing has students dreading coming to school even more than they already do. They've inflicted this overwhelming stress on students since the 1930’s, and people are still working on ditching them as a whole. Not only do standardized tests create stress, they are inaccurate and give false information on levels of academic achievement. An abundant amount of students do not take these tests seriously because the results of the test do not impact their grades. Standardized tests are unnecessary and should not be used in schools because they inflict stress on students, takes away opportunities from them and are not a credible source of academic growth.