Adverse Effects Of Standardized Testing On Students

The stress settled in once the word ‘testing’ echoed through the classroom. The students knew what it brought, and they knew how dreadful it would be; sitting in one room, hour after hour and day after day, silent and still, with only the sound of the clock resonating through their heads. Standardized tests are assessments that local and national governments may require their students to take. However, these tests do not properly evaluate their intellect, and only lead to tension and mental strain on a student’s attentiveness. Although many schools believe that these assessments are productive, it is proven that they are not beneficial to students because standardized testing leads to stress and anxiety, it is wasting valuable classroom time,

Students are overwhelmed with school, work, extra-curricular activities, family, etc. Perhaps standardized tests are a major contributor to students’ stress. A standardized test is any test scored in a consistent manner and requires test-takers to answer identical questions. Among the most common include the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT). According to the article “Standardized Testing Has Negatively Impacted Public Schools” from Opposing Viewpoints in Context, the beginnings of standardized tests occurred during World War I when the American Psychological Association developed a “ground-administered test” to eliminate inefficient recruits (Solley 3). Today, standardized tests are necessary for college admission. Just last month, in March of 2016, College Board, the non-profit organization responsible for administering the SAT, altered the format of the test. It is now formatted more similar to the ACT and includes an optional essay reducing the score from 2400 to 1600. Many advocates argue standardized tests accurately measure academic intelligence and hold teachers and schools accountable. In today’s society, standardized tests have become the norm, and unfortunately, people overlook their negative effects despite research substantiating arguments about their disadvantages. Standardized tests are disadvantageous because they hinder education and contain bias.

One of the main reasons schools claim to use standardized testing is to compare performance levels of different students in different locations around the nation, but this is an unreliable way to do so. According to many studies, such tests decrease student motivation and increase their stress and anxiety. Far too much emphasis is put into standardized tests to the point where teachers are teaching to the test rather than making sure real learning is taking place. Students aren’t learning everything that is part of their curriculum. Too much focus is directed to

The education researcher Gregory J. Cizek says that tests are causing major stress and anxiety to teens and even to the brightest students. Also, these tests are causing students to even do things as jurassic as throwing up on the test which has made teachers learn how to deal with the situation if someone were to projectile vomit on their test (Cizek 2). Also, all of the unnecessary stress that is put on the student’s impacts them tremendously. American students are on of the most tested children in the entire world! They take more than 100 million standardized tests every year, according to Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City. The results of these tests are taken seriously by educators, parents, and even local government officials, for they are shown as a measure of teacher and school progress and can affect a child's future placement in a schools system. All this pressure is not lost on children because even on the students who are very well prepared can be impacted greatly by the general anxiety surrounding the tests (Clovis 1). What makes standardized tests stressful? A major factor is the way by which they are tested at. They are rigidly timed, the instructions are complicated, and the rules are strict (Cizek 3). Although, testing is not too stressful. The US Department of Education stated: "Although

Standardized tests crush students and teachers under all the pressure they put on them. High stakes standardized tests put so much pressure

Standardized tests cause unnecessary stress on students because of pressure to do well on tests. Students who study too much or do not study enough can get stressed out. Not studying enough can make students feel unprepared and can cause anxiety. Studying too much can overwhelm a student of overload of information. In the article, “The Leading Source for Pros & Cons of Controversial Issues”, an education researcher Gregory J. Cizek, says “the brightest of students even get stressed.” If the smartest students in school get stressed, how can average students avoid stress? There is no way to avoid the stress that comes with these tests. It also states, “The Sacramento Bee reported that ‘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.” The stress that comes with standardized tests is bad enough, but

Many students have experienced the joy of test-taking. For some people, tests do not bother them. However, many experience test anxiety especially for these more high-stake tests. There are many different standardized tests such as: SOLs, SATs, ACTs, and college entrance exams. These standardized tests are not efficient tools for determining the knowledge of students. People respond differently on tests depending on the testing environment and how their day has been. However, others argue that standardized tests show grades each individual student has truly earned. Standardized tests are stressful, they do not represent a student’s understanding of material well, and they interfere with the way teachers want to teach.

Standardized testing has lowered student achievement in the past several years. “The US has slipped from 18th in the world in math in 2002, to 31st place in 2009” (Walker). Something needs to be done, because a good education is how Americans succeed. American children are losing a battle with education because of these high stakes testing. The original purpose of the tests is “to ensure that all children have a fair and equal opportunity to obtain high-quality education at minimum proficiency on State standards” (“Title I - Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged”). But, the test anxiety is becoming more prevalent, and is keeping students from performing their best (Kohn).

The clock ticks on, and the school day drags slowly. As the pencil hovers over the four answers, the student sighs heavily in distress. This is how many students feel while taking standardized tests. Standardized exams have been a major part of the American education since the mid-1800s. The use of the tests shot up after President George W. Bush signed a bill known as the “No Child Left Behind Act” on January 8, 2002. The act required all fifty states to have their students take the tests. Although, the purpose of the exams was to measure a student’s and their school’s academic improvement, but this idea is incredibly flawed. Many times the tests graded unwell and many people believe that the exams are a waste, which is just a few of the many reasons that students opt out each year. However, eliminating standardized tests from a student’s educational school year is necessary because the tests cause great stress, they are unfair and the tests

On most normal mournings, students can be found showering and eating breakfast before school. This is the normal routine. However, students in Ohio who wake up in March or April find another item added to their routine, stress. These two months are testing months. Tests like the Air, SAT or ACT help determine if a student passes jr. high or high school or gets into college. On these mornings, students worry on their way to school. Most even worry when it comes time to take the test. Stress is just one of the unintended consequences of standardized tests. Even though Standardized tests were made to help keep the classroom teacher and schools accountable, the unintended consequences of them have been hurtful to teacher and students.

Standardized tests are bad for teachers and students alike, and affect many aspects of their lives negatively. For example, many teachers’ jobs can depend on their student’s scores on a standardized test, and so they “teach to the test” rather than ensuring that their students have a good understanding of the entire topic. The tests fail to measure student’s overall growth, and only determine each student’s proficiency at the time of testing. The large amount of stress that is placed on students and teachers by these tests negatively affects their mental and emotional health. Finally, standardized tests create disadvantages to those who do poorly on them, and these disadvantages can affect the rest of their futures.

Standardized testing creates a lot of stress on students and educators alike. Because of how much stress is put on them to prepare students for these tests, many excellent teachers quit their jobs everyday. In fact, in April, new federal data stated that 17 percent of new public school teachers leave their profession after four years due to stress and other reasons. Some teachers fail to teach students skills that go beyond the tests because they’re so pressured to get their students ready for these exams. This amount of stress can lead to feelings of negativity towards school and learning in general as well as cause negative health issues. Standardized tests places a large amount of stress on both teachers and students.

Bob Schaeffer, a public education director once said, "You don’t make a sheep fatter by weighing them more often." (Nagourney, 2) This represents the process of Standardized Testing and one of the risks it causes; testing too often. Standardized Testing is a process where all students take the same kind of test with similar questions all addressing the same subjects and are scored in a consistent way as groups or as individuals. Standardized testing has brought nothing but negative effects to schools since it was created. Standardized testing in schools has been around since the 1920 's starting with the SAT. There are many risks in Standardized Testing, that is why Standardized testing should be revised due to

Standardized tests have also come under fire for further socioeconomic inequality by having questions geared towards the upper-middle class. (Rooney and Schaeffner 102). However, this conclusion is heavily contested as research sponsored by The College Board (the creators of the SAT) has shown that when controlling for socioeconomic status SAT-grade correlation only goes down slightly.(Sackett et al. 5). While standardized testing may not be specifically geared away from students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the results clearly show the poorer students are performing worse on the test. This shows, that in some way economically disadvantaged students are disadvantaged in "college preparedness".

Teachers used to teach to students and for students, now they teach for test; today, “45 percent of National Education Association teacher members surveyed considered leaving the profession of teaching due to the adverse effects of standardized testing.” Testing has evolved over time from basic reading, writing, and arithmetic to curriculum based on standardized testing such as the ACT, SAT, and TCAP. Many years ago, students did not have to take as many tests, and there were not as many opportunities for different types of classes. Schools have evolved as standardized test evolved, and this has forced teachers to evolve as well. As time progressed, the frequency of these standardized test increased and the student scores were used more