The Debate Over Standardized Testing Essay

Standardized tests inhibit the ability for students to perform well on stress inducing tests; thus, students question their abilities to succeed, and they lack engagement in their educational learning. Standardized tests produce the feeling of anxiety as heart beats accelerate, bodies’ tremble, faces flush, sweat pores open, hands grip tighter, and muscles tense. As the test dates come closer, students are

Similarly, many teachers, statewide, feel that these exams that no significant value towards a student’s overall intelligence. According to a survey by both the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Scholastic, of more than ten-thousand public school teachers, this report has found that teachers

College is right around the corner and senior year will soon be coming to a close. Over the years, I have been exposed to all sorts of standardized tests. Some of these I can prepare for, like the ACT, while others seem to throw some curveballs, like the MAP Assessment. Either way, both tests help measure and determine my ability as a student. No student looks forward to taking exams, but I understand why they are essential for evaluating students. Standardized tests allow colleges and teachers to measure student’s ability as well as push students to study and take things seriously. For this reason, I think the number of them should be maintained.

The purposes of standardized tests are to instruct decision making, establish program eligibility, evaluate course goals, evaluate program goals, and examine external curriculum. When a teacher gives and assesses a standardized test, they gain information about their students that helps them realize what concepts they have learned according to the agenda for the subject at hand. If the assessment is performed in a sensible amount of time and given according to the directions, this purpose should be fulfilled; however, it is a common belief that standardized tests do not work well in establishing where a student stands in a specific curriculum. The test uses a general curriculum that is the basis for the tests

What once began as a simple test administered to students yearly to measure understanding of a particular subject has, as Kohn (2000) has stated, “Mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole” (p.1). Today’s students are tested to an extent that is unparalleled in not only the history of our schools, but to the rest of the world as well. Step into any public school classroom across the United States and it will seem as if standardized testing has taken over the curriculum. Day after day teachers stress the importance of being prepared for the upcoming test. Schools spend millions of dollars purchasing the best test preparation materials, sometimes comes at the cost of other important material. Although test

“No issue in the U.S. Education is more controversial than (standardized) testing. Some people view it as the linchpin of serious reform and improvement, others as a menace to quality teaching and learning” (Phelps). A tool that educators use to learn about students and their learning capabilities is the standardized test. Standardized tests are designed to give a common measure of a student’s performance. Popular tests include the SAT, IQ tests, Regents Exams, and the ACT. “Three kinds of standardized tests are used frequently in schools: achievement, diagnostic, and aptitude” (Woolfolk 550). Achievement tests can be used to help a teacher assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses in a

Students shouldn’t be measured by what they get on standardized test since it doesn’t show other things that the students are good at. The author wrote, “ Contrary to popular assumptions about standardized testing, the tests do a poor job of measuring student achievement. They fail to measure such important attributes as creativity and critical thinking skills.” (Opposing viewpoints in Context pg.1) The author’s main argument is that standardized tests do not show the other skill that students, schools or programs have that isn’t shown just through a test. That Standardized testing doesn’t effectively measure the achievement of students. In his or her article, the author puts what achievement is but what is based on standardized test and not other things. A lot of attributes are not measured from the standardized tests. There are some places that have rewards for “shallow thinking” (Opposing viewpoints Pg.3)

“Standardized testing has become the arbiter of social mobility, yet there is more regulation of the food we feed our pets that of the tests we give our kids ” (Robert Schaeffer quotes)

Since 1805 public schools have been the backbone of many Americans and their strive for an education. On top of this, public schools, according to the Huffington Post, equate to 91% or 50.7 million of those attending pre-Kindergarten through the 12th grade. But, with other school types such as year-round attending over 2 million students, the question begs, “Which school type provides their students with the best education”?

“Our educational goal [is] the production of caring, competent, loving, lovable people” . The students found in the schools across the United State are the future of America. They are the doctors, teachers, business people, lawyers and many other roles, that will be out in the workforce in the years to come. What they learn in school will impact them immensely; it is the responsibility of a teacher to give students the best education in order to ensure the common good of the future. It is essential for students to not only learn content matter, but also the skills to enable them to participate in a democracy. Due to standardized testing, the emphasis of education has become on score and rankings rather than learning. A standardized test does not look at the whole student, the scores provided are on a very narrow aspect of education. In the classroom, there are countless ways for teachers to assess the student as a whole person not as just a score. Standardized tests scores should not be the sole criteria for determining a student’s academic achievement.

Dating back to the mid-1800’s, standardized testing has become the be-all and end-all solution in determining a student’s academic outlook. Originally designed to measure mere scholastic knowledge, standardized tests, such as the Scholastic Intellectuality Measure and Purposeful Likelihood Exam (SIMPLE), have expanded the horizons for quantifying a student’s future socioeconomic stature, qualifying their dominant personality traits, constructing appropriate social peers, and deriving accurate career configurations for optimal societal benefit. SIMPLE applies advanced modus operandi and a modernized approach to testing in order to construct a dynamic portfolio of student prospect. A twenty first century innovation in standardized testing, SIMPLE creates an unparalleled schooling experience, student individuality, and real-world success.

Education has never been constant, always subjected to the whims of various trends as they come in and out of style. Recently, many in the field have pushed for more data on each individual student, to be supplied by an increasing number of longer standardized assessments. This trend has clearly had a large impact on education, exemplified by the recent proliferation of standardized tests administered to students, especially young students. In an opposing trend attempting to counteract that increased attention to numbers, exists the push for more emotion and personal growth aimed instruction inside the classroom. Those in favor of data argue that the numbers allow instruction to be tailored to a student 's individual needs, while those in opposition maintain that a child is not a number, but a complex individual who will succeed best when given appropriate emotional tools. Bridging the gap between the two camps is a third viewpoint: emotional strength should be routinely assessed and consistently taught in order to effectively emphasize its importance to students. While social-emotional skills and traits are vital to a student’s eventual success, teachers should model these attributes, not test for them, as the assessments available are both impractical and ineffective.

Standardized testing? Those two words are being heard by students all over the world and is beginning to be a repetitive non constructive assessment. This nonconstructive assessment has become relied upon by the school board to somehow grade the students accurately on a subject that is taught in a small window of time. This is a window that is a two week period and doesn't give teachers nor students enough time to learn or teach it. This is detrimental to the student body by not allowing a them to be properly +assessed.

Every year high school sophomores around the nation wake up early one day in October to take the standardized test most commonly known as the PSAT. There are many other standardized tests students take; the most known being the PSAT, SAT and ACT. Nearly four million students took the SAT and/or ACT in 2014 ("Number of SAT and ACT Test-Takers, 2014"). The reason so many students take these standardized tests is because of the No Child Left Behind Act implemented in 2002 by President George W. Bush. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, it is required that, “states develop and implement challenging academic standards in reading and math, set annual statewide progress objectives to ensure that all groups of students reach proficiency… and then test children annually… to measure their progress.” (“The New Rules”). Although there has been speculations about standardized testing being detrimental to the student and anyone who uses the test scores, it is clear that these tests are beneficial rather than harmful.

Standardized tests are used to evaluate students and teachers. That does not work because there are too many factors that affect test scores. Causing students anxiety or stress about a test that is ineffective in measuring student achievement is unfair. Some colleges use SAT or ACT scores, but others are changing to SAT and ACT optional because they understand standardized tests are only one factor. Many other factors are more important in determining college admission and measuring student's achievements. Standardized testing is ineffective and should not be required because the No Child Left Behind Act is not helping minorities, there are too many factors for tests to accurately measure student progress, and the students are negatively impacted.