Arguments Against Standardized Testing For Students

Schools around the world have a hard time with standardized tests. Students either don’t take them seriously or simply just do not know the material. Teachers try to prepare their students for these tests but it takes away valuable class time to teach useful information. Many students fail these tests because of the environment they live in at home. These tests put schools into shame when getting their scores back each year. Schools should eliminate standardized tests because the test has not improved student’s achievements, it is an unreliable measure of student performance, and these tests only measure a small portion of what makes education meaningful.

To many students standardized testing has become another part of schooling that is dreaded. Standardized testing has been a part of school since the nineteen-thirties; in those days it was used as a way to measure students that had special needs. Since the time that standardized test have been in American schools there has been many programs that have placed an importance on the idea of standardized testing such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Evans 1). Over the years the importance of standardized testing has increased tremendously and so has the stakes, not only for teachers but also students. All states in the United States of America have state test in order to measure how much students learn, and help tell how well the

Standardized tests are unnecessary because they are excruciating to the minds of many innocent students. Each year, the tests get tougher and stricter until the students cannot process their own thoughts. The tests become torturous to the minds of those only starting in the world of tests. The students already battling in the war are continuing to fall deeper and deeper into the world of uncreativity and narrowness. As the walls narrow in on them, they are lost and unable to become innovative thinkers. Moreover, the implementation of standardized tests into the public school systems of the United States of America has controversially raised two different views –the proponents versus the opponents in the battle of the effectiveness of

Standardized testing has been around since the mid 1800’s. Numbers went up when President George W. Bush enforced the No Child Left Behind Act and stated that testing will be annually in all 50 states. That is when education became more about being able to pass the test then actually trying to learn the subject and truly understand. Ever since students have always dealt with trying to get a certain score on test so they can know what schools are willing to accept them. That score just does not apply to the student it also involves the educators and the school as well. If schools do not achieve a certain goal they have budget cuts and cut teachers. Are test scores the determining factor of how much money a school will receive for that year? Is that fair to the students who want to get a great education and want to thrive to try to go law school or medical school?

Many students throughout the American education system struggle due to the fact that they have to take a standardized test. But, this struggle differs for each student, some are too lazy to take them while others are having difficulty performing well on these tests. As a student who learned English as a second language, I could relate with the people who are having trouble performing well on standardized tests. When I was in high school there was nothing more frightening than Standardized tests. There was a lot of emphasize on these tests and they had the power to determine my future in the means of deciding which colleges I could attend. But, I wasn’t alone in this matter, not all students perform to their potential on Standardized tests. No matter how hard I tried to study for these tests, I was just not doing as well as my class mates. It made me feel like I was beneath all my other class mates and I thought they were intellectually superior. But, I met other like me who were not good at taking test and didn’t perform well on these

It is true that standardized tests are being used to evaluate whether our schools are doing their jobs. Our schools prepare our students for life in the workforce and college. If we do take away standardized testing, it will seem as though we have no way to evaluate our schools by, but the fact is we already have a way. What is it that students are typically evaluated by? Their volunteer work? Their extracurricular activities? Their clubs? Students are typically evaluated by their grade point average. Scholarships, school rank, and colleges take GPA into account. Everything that is important to a high school student, scholarships, school rank, and college, is in some way determined by their GPA. Some corporations use GPA as a cut-off point

Our children are the most important resource in this Country. Our way of life could forever change, by the changes that are put into our schools by the federal government. The decline in meaningful learning because of the many standardized tests mandated, first accepted into our state from the federal government, which can degrade the lifestyle we enjoy today. “Standardized Tests measure only a small portion of what makes education meaningful”, and they are taking too much out of the learning time. This is detrimental to our children’s Education. Retired teachers and grandparents in a group called United Women’s Forum, meet every week. They are working to improve civic issues regarding the Education of our children. There is need for more

In today’s day and age, the key to success is achieving a higher education after high school. The steps in which we take to graduate high school and attend college, where we will be furthering our education, is all about jumping through hoops. We spend 12 years of our lives in school— five years of elementary school, three years of middle school, and four years of high school. During these 12 years of school, we are subjected to many standardized tests to see if we are up to standards and to measure our achievements. Standardized testing doesn’t showcase every student’s potential or intelligence. Not all students test in the same ways, therefore they should not be treated as if they do. To help cater to students variances, the government should administer a new type of testing that varies upon the students abilities.

According to an article on the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's website, "Employing standardized achievement tests to ascertain educational quality is like measuring temperature with a tablespoon" (Popham). Standardized tests have been used throughout the U.S. for decades to rank schools and students; show progress; and determine eligibility for programs, colleges, etc. However, these tests should not be used at all, let alone for such important purposes. Although many wrongly disagree, standardized tests are overly stress-inducing, more challenging for certain groups, and preventing students from learning vital things in school.

The chart above posted by Zachary Goldfarb on the Washington Post further shows that if a student’s family is more affluent, that student is likely to do better. If standardized testing is going to test students as equals, then all the prep material should be made available for all students no matter what income level a student’s family is in.

It’s common knowledge that standardized testing has “taken over” America’s schools. A quick google search turns up thousands upon thousands of results, all of which spout similar rhetoric. But what about non-standardized testing; tests that are dictated by teachers in individual classrooms? On any given week, you could speak with just about any student at HPHS, and I have no doubt they’d be able to tell you about at least one upcoming assessment on their calendar. While tests are certainly necessary and even helpful, both to teachers and students, when administered constantly they begin to lose their effectiveness.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Nobel Prize winning Physicist Albert Einstein, former Vice President Dick Cheney, light bulb inventor Thomas Edison, Oscar winning director Steven Spielberg, creative genius Walt Disney, and Steve Jobs, the visionary behind Apple; these iconic figures are often associated with genius, but were viewed as “slow” or “dumb” during school. These individuals were expelled or dropouts of school, because they were not meeting standards. After years of failing in school, these people went on to revolutionize the world, while inspiring many others to make a difference.

Joseph Joubert, a wise French writer, once stated, “It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debate.” Although this was stated years ago, his wise words are still relevant today. Standardized testing is just one of the many topics causing great controversy among society. The reason behind this uproar is due to the contradicting opinions of government officials, school district administrators, teachers, parents, and students. Each group has different opinions they are passionate about, however the central argument is whether or not standardized testing should continue to be used as an evaluation tool.

Most kids might not ever believe that parents don't like test either.Some parents do not like standardized testing, they think that it is to much.The argument between standardized testing is getting hot.Some parents think that we should have standardized testing,but i personally think that we do need testing because the district needs to know if we are learning what we need to be learning or if we are learning anything at all,also to depict if we move on to our next grade also for us to know what we are learning ourselves.

Education is an integral part of any society, and assessing the needs and improvement of students is an important part of any education, however, is constant testing the right way to do it? In this essay I will be exploring the world of testing, specifically the famous standardized test, the good and the bad, the uses and the alternatives. Did we as a society stumble upon the best, most effective way to assess the ability and improvement of our children? Could we implement a better way to help all children reach their full potential? Standardized tests equalize things for students, when not all students learn in the same ways. Does it accomplish more than ranking our nation's children?