How Is Standardized Testing Affecting Our Educational System?

Great controversy has arisen over standardized testing in recent years. The issue is whether or not schools should continue to administer standardized tests. These tests are dangerous to school systems and should be abolished as they are ineffective, punish teachers and students unfairly, and there are better alternatives.

Students take up to 112 standardized tests preschool to 12th grade. Students take too many standardized tests. People might think that students don’t take a lot of standardized tests but they do. I think that the government should change these tests. This essay is going to explain to the reader that the government should change standardized test because (1) students take too many of them,(2) they put stress on teachers, and(3) it takes up too much learning time.

Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.

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

The use of standardized examinations have long been debated in American society. In fact, the last several years have seen an immense shift from the prioritization of standardized testing to more holistic measurements of student achievement. Despite this shift, many school districts across the nation and college/university entrance requirements still place a significant, if not pivotal, emphasis on test-taking and standardized exam results. Throughout this paper, I will explore 1) the history of standardized testing, 2) arguments for and against its practice, as well as 3) situate the consequences of its use in one of the three philosophical goals of schooling. All of this will subsequently paint an investigation into the purpose of schooling in American society.

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.

In the contemporary American education system high-stakes standardized testing has resulted in a focus on extensive test preparation, as well as a large increase in the numbers of teachers cheating by alternating their students' test scores. Both these phenomena are a direct consequence of the incentives and punishments directly linked to standardized test results.

Toward new alternatives for standardized testing while researching text about standardized testing and the effects it has on students, a few authors who wrote articles about the negative impacts standardized testing has and the reality of this issue, particularly articles, books, statistics. These authors often placed the reality of standardized testing they were studying in historical context by discussing the importance of really analyzing standardized testing and the effects it has on students and the educational system. There are many different viewpoints about the issue of standardized testing and the importance of reviewing the testing system and analyzing whether or not it’s a reliable source to measure what students have learned. The goal of this paper is to bring this source into focus of test administrators and their discussions by connecting five different articles to stress the importance of this problem. Standardized testing shouldn’t be used in schools because they damage

Standardized testing has been an inevitable part of life for countless Americans, making them question the validity of their life choices since the third grade. When taking standardized tests, one encounters some obvious drawbacks. Any student who has been forced to take one of the hundreds that exist can recount the tales of stress and feelings of inadequacy that linger after every test taken.

testing. The primary ideology regarding standardized testing is that a student’s test scores reflect a student’s intelligence and their ability to succeed. People must be educated on the

The topic standardized testing has frequently appeared with the choices of A B C D and E that (A) appear on the ACT testing, test at school or even drivers test or applying to become a United State citizen. (B) Theses choices can be filled with trickery that can confused the brain or be helpful for people to see the results, or to guide you to see if you were able to comprehend the idea that these choices had to offer for you. (C) Standardize testing is used everywhere in school and colleges for many student across the united states. (D) These test can be positive and negative impact on schools, students and staffs. (E)Testing has it perks and also has its flaws. Nevertheless Standardized testing is a huge political topic and must be

Opponents have stated that the tests are not objective or fair, that extreme testing challenges the ability to yield students that are critical thinkers, and they support a thin curriculum. Standardized testing evaluates a student’s performance on one certain day and does not take into account exterior influences. The success of a school is contingent on the performance of the students. There are many individuals who just do not do well on tests. Many of these students are understand the content and are smart, but it is not reflected on the test. Standardized testing only evaluates the student’s performance instead of the general progression of the student throughout the year. In this paper I will provide my thoughts on whether or not standardized testing is a good thing or

No Child Left Behind promote some testing standards but it leaves out many others. Teaching to the test is not effective because it affects the curriculum and classroom instruction. Questions arise whether test score improvements show an increase in learning. Issues that affect teaching to the test are the limited information as to what students have actually learned on a specific topic and cheating with the lack of accountability.

Within this paper we hope to answer lingering questions about the effectiveness of standardized testing in schools. Throughout our research we found many instances and sources of information to help us reach our goal. Standardized Testing had grown to play an enormous role in controversy concerning the Education system within the past decade. Hopefully throughout our paper it can be understood as to why this occurred and what can be done about it.

In Teachers Cheat on Tests as a Reaction to Poor Education Policy, the author, Prentice explains how teachers push boundaries to help their students. In Atlanta, 110 teachers were put on administrative leave after they helped their students cheat to improve their test scores. The author states "by putting so much emphasis on student test scores, teachers were incentivized to cheat in order to prevent students from being labeled as failures and to keep schools from being closed...government's testing initiative is also misguided and arguably immoral" (Prentice). Teachers become so frustrated with standardized tests that it causes them to betray their morals and help their students. The priority of the teachers was to help their students in any way possible because they knew that they would not be able to succeed on their own. Many teachers were fired, criminally charged, plead guilty to those charges, but they leave their blame on the government. If students did not reach their breaking points, then their teachers would not have helped their students cheat. The teachers are now looking for a way to move forward and move past standardized tests.