Arguments Against Standardized Testing In Public Schools

Although standardized testing has been a major part of schooling it has also had a negative impact on effective education. Standardized has made a huge impact on public schooling so much that not only does it affect the students but also the teachers. With the teachers now beginning to get raises or having their jobs on the line if their students fail the test, many students have not been getting the fullest education process that they could get. Students may not realize the impact that it has had on the type of teaching style that they receive because they are so used to it. With so many teachers not having a lot of time to teach what is on the test and the other things that they feel are important to students to know, a lot of

Standardized test cause reduced content knowledge. In other words, teach the test criteria and nothing more. The scores that everyone is trying to get only give a person a small amount of the knowledge that, without the test, they would obtain. Theses scores are drilled so hard into a student’s head that they do not know any other thing to do than to pass that test. Barber states in his article that there were three groups of people, elected officials from the school board, the press, and the public. He said that “All three groups were clamoring for something simple and repeatable to use to judge how well their schools were doing.” He goes on to say that they thought standardized testing was just that. They wanted to compare other schools to their school, that it gives them those bragging rights. This will eventually create a ripple effect, and come back on the schools in harmful ways.

Standardized Testing can be both a benefit to the educational community and a very serious problem. Standardized Testing is said to have negative effects on both the students and the teachers. Standardized Testing has created many problems and has become a very big factor in politics. Some people argue that the government is influencing the education system. While others believe that the government isn’t involved enough. There are many pros and cons to both but the cons outnumber the pros.

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 tests show what the student is learning and possibly what the student is still having trouble with (Parent Today). That could be a positive benefit to help the teachers teach the student in a more adequate and skillful way, but there is usually no feedback to the teachers about the students’ test results. The tests are usually not returned or if they are, they are not given the correct answers to any missed questions. That makes it nearly impossible to teach the material that is being misunderstood or is hard to grasp. It also does not help with teaching the process of coming up with a reason or response to a situation and/or question. Mark Thane, Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent, furthers that point in explaining how schools are not given tests results until “after students leave for the summer,” which makes it “too late to adjust classroom strategies” (Fraser). It is no good to know what the students are having trouble with if there is no feedback or the results come out too late in order to reteach misunderstood topics or questions. While there are some who believe that standardized testing is useful and necessary to understand what the students are learning, there is evidence that contradicts their

There is this idea of how if the teacher’s students do great on the test it means that they are great teachers, which is not necessarily the case. Columbia University states, “Standardized testing causes many teachers to only “teach to the tests,”. This practice can hinder a student’s overall learning potential. With the stakes getting higher and higher for teachers, this practice will only continue to increase. The sad reality is that it fosters an atmosphere that is boring and lacks creativeness. Teachers have such pressure to get their students ready for these exams that they neglect to teach students skills that go beyond the tests.” With the lack of teachers actually using their skills to teach the curriculum and the only thing they teach is how to take tests, school will not be where students would want to learn, and they will eventually drop out in the future. Also teaching tests will not help students in life in any way, especially without the teacher and student

Standardized tests have caused disagreements all across the U.S. According to http://standardizedtests.procon.org/, though they don’t improve most student achievements, it does improve positive effects in 93% of students. Hundreds of thousands of teachers and parents around the U.S are very against Standardized Tests. The teachers opt against the tests for the simple fact of they are evaluated from the results of their students. Parents opt because the tests end up stressing out there children. Standardized testing teaches students to take tests. The average student takes about 113 tests from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Test scores are usually used when it comes to grade retention. Standardized testing can also lead to suffering a loss of interest in school and self-esteem. Teachers are also teaching to test since more schools are focusing on instruction on tests due to higher stakes. Thus, this narrows the curriculum being taught. Most of the standardized tests include topics that are not important and are formatted in ways that are not useful in most job settings. High-stakes testing drives out good teachers and the tests misinform the

But once students took the test the schools have found a more ¨positive effect¨ on the student's achievement."in direct support of higher expectations, strengthened standards and better tests.” (Source 5). Also Schools have acheieved the significant schools award for all the students doing good on the test and for the teachers and staff helping them out in school so they get a good future. ¨20 school systems that "have achieved significant, sustained, and widespread gains" on national and international assessments used Department of Education stated in Nov. 2004.” (Source 5). After taking the Standardized tests students have been getting better grades and have been understanding the topic in all the classes and teachers and staff say that they will get a better future now.”Standardized tests provide accurate comparisons between sub-groups. These sub-groups can include data on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, special needs, etc.” (Source

In various ways, standardized test are beneficial from tracking students’ progress over the years to not allowing teachers emotions to get in the way of the testing process. Standardized testing sets expectations high for students and it does hold them accountable for the same standards, which may lead to achievement gains. By looking at the students’ performance they will be able to determine how well they retain information. Also the school is able to learn what their students are able to do and what they cannot do compared to other school districts, so they would be able to improve their education system. When giving more personal assessments, it is very possible “that the teacher or person assessing the student can let their emotions or biases affect how they score that student” (Young). In most cases, standardized tests are objective. There are wrong or right answers, and there is no room for feelings or emotions. Standardized testing gives teachers guidance to help them determine what to teach students and when to teach it. Tests are highly accountable and reliable as they judge the candidates on a common platform across states and nations. Standardized testing is “a simplified way of timeline management” (A Look at the Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing). Standardized testing gives parents a good idea of how their children are doing as compared to students across the country and

Do you like your standardized tests in school? If not it's ok many people don't like the test and want a change.People do not like standardized tests because they take a long time. I think standardized test should be improved.

Standardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some people may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay.

This correlates directly to their ranking and teaching evaluations. Teachers feel pushed to teach a test (Layton 2). In order for teachers and schools to look good, test score of their classes need to excel. The teachers and schools feel that in order for their students to do that they need to learn how to take tests and simply more about the tests. This takes away from actually teaching the subject which is a lose-lose situation.Teachers teach a test instead of material that could go into more depth. Along the same lines, “In forty percent of districts surveyed, test results are not available until the following school year, making them useless for teachers who want to use results to help guide their work in the classroom,” (Layton 7). The tests taken by students have limited use for teachers who are in the classroom and could use them to further the student’s education. Access to these tests could improve the learning capabilities and give the teachers a broader spectrum of what needs to be focused on in the classroom. The teachers are able to see the scores and information carried with the test for the next year, but for the interest of the current students the statistics apply to it would be more appropriate to have access to the information. Teachers cannot effectively improve the learning curve to the individual

Standardized tests do not asses skills when their questions are generalized for an entire population. Most of the time, the tests are not in conjunction with classroom skills and behavior. These tests asses for general knowledge and understanding of students rather that their actual abilities. Since the questions are general in nature, it becomes very difficult for teachers to know how to improve the students understanding of a particular subject based on just general information. This leads to teachers “teaching to test” rather than educating students in a proper way based on the real needs of the classroom. Another reason these tests do more bad than good is the fact that teachers actually have a test booklet instructing them on what to do if a student vomits during a test. Students study so hard for these tests and simply cannot handle the pressure. So in the end, their final scores reflect not their abilities, but the influences of their surrounding factors instead.

Standardized testing has greatly taken over school curriculum in recent years. It has caused teachers to focus on “teaching to the test” instead of becoming creative and teaching the curriculum in their own way. Not only that, but it is also taking away from students. They are focusing more on preparing for the test and less on learning in an enjoyable way. More and more standardized tests are added each and every year and it is coming to a point to where that is all students and teachers are preparing for during school. This is affecting both teachers, students, and even parents. Standardized tests take away from traditional student-teacher relationships because teachers are having to focus on teaching