Standardized Testing Underestimating Children’s Intelligence
If a bird, a monkey, a penguin, an elephant, a fish, a seal and a dog are all asked to climb a tree, would they all be able to complete the task the same way? Would they be able to climb the tree at all? Standardized testing has become a way to measure students’ intelligence and the quality of education they are receiving. Standardized testing is not adequate for all types of learners and students are being tested on more than just what they learn in school. Because everyone is different, they cannot be expected to test the same way. The test cannot be considered fair if everyone is not able to participate and students’ intelligence are being misjudged on a task they may not even be able to comprehend. This visual displays seven different animals: a bird, a monkey, a penguin, an elephant, a fish, a seal, and a dog. The animals are lined up together, in a field, with a tree. They are waiting on instruction from the human sitting in front of them. This human is sitting behind a desk. His caption bubble reads, “for a fair selection everybody has to take the same exam: please climb that
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However, “Opponents say the tests are neither fair nor objective, that their use promotes a narrow curriculum and drill-like "teaching to the test," and that excessive testing undermines America's ability to produce innovators and critical thinkers” (ProCon.org, 2015). These tests determine the future of millions of students. If students do well on their test, it may lead to financial aid and other government grants for college, as well as funding for the school and the teachers. On the contrary, if students are doing poorly on their test, they may be held back from proceeding to the next grade, schools could lose funding and even result in teachers losing their jobs (ProCon.org,
Most standardized test do not measure emotional or mechanical intelligence, actually a lot of educators argue that standardized test do not measure comprehension or actual intelligence but rather memorization. While others may believe that standardized testing just needs a few improvements, others believe that it is impossible to have a test that measures accurately the capability of a diverse student population. Today’s schooling depends heavily on the test scores from standardized test. Standardized testing should not have so much weight put on them because they have a negative impact on effective education, students’ self-concept, and learning styles.
Getting an education is the main goal for everyone, although it is easy to obtain there are some obstacles to it. One of the main obstacles students face at the beginning of their education is standardized tests. Schools have started to adopt this type of tests as their main way to evaluate students’ intelligence and teachers’ effectiveness to educate the students. The way students used to learn has changed, in order to get them ready for the tests they have to spend much of the school time preparing for it instead of learning something they can use in their future life. According to Bruce Jacobs in No Child Left Behind's Emphasis on 'Teaching to the Test' Undermines Quality Teaching, a 2007 study by the University of Maryland teachers were put in much pressure and had thoughts to teach the test […]. This shows that teachers have also been affected by standardized tests in a way they have more pressure to make students pass. Having teachers ‘teach the test’ means their way to educate has been corrupted. In most cases when teachers’ ability to educate has been changed leads them to practice methods not convenient for scholars. One of these methods is memorization, in Relying on High-Stakes Standardized Tests to Evaluate Schools and Teachers: A Bad Idea by Hani Morgan describes how students start to adapt to an “inferior type of learning, based on memorization and recall students gain when teachers
Anyone who has ever taken the ACT or the SAT knows how stressful and difficult the tests are. Students are forever judged because of the scores the receive by colleges and peers. The ACT/SAT are standardized tests that are meant to calculate what students have learned in previous years of high school. Colleges then use this score to determine whether a student will succeed in college. Specific problems with this process include the fact that high schoolers are extremely busy and may have other things on their minds, the tests require brutal test prep, the test can cause stress and anxiety, and the tests do not accurately gage a student’s college success. For these main reasons, students should not be required to take the ACT/SAT to get into college.
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
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.
“There is something deeply hypocritical in a society that holds an inner-city child only eight years old "accountable" for her performance on a high-stakes standardized exam but does not hold the high officials of our government accountable for robbing her of what they gave their own kids six or seven years before,” quote Jonathan Kozol. As this quote apptly states many children are often robbed of simple childhood pleasures by standardized testing. These strenuous tests should be cut back to the absolute minimum. Standardized tests should not be required because they provide unnecessary stress, are often inaccurate because of computer and human error, and some students, particularly minorities, are at a clear disadvantage.
Yes i do feel as if the school is wasting their time on standardized testing because as a kid i want learning to be fun not always having to worry about a test every moment. I would like to be taught for different reasons in stead of being always being taught for test and the future, i know when i get older i'll probably would understand a little bit more but till than i want schools to realize that kids don't want to know that we are only being taught for standardized testing and teacher are very strict about the testing i'm not trying to tell any one how to work their classes but sometimes they have to understand its not all about test and teacher why some kids don't like to work .
Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it’s stupid.” Recently, there has been discussion about whether the method of standardized testing is best for our education system. There are a lot of flaws that come with the system of testing. Opposers argue that with all of the flaws, the testing significantly holds American citizens back from greater potential to success. Standardized testing weakens America’s education system, because it can cause teachers to “teach to the test”, does not truly measure intelligence or abilities, and cannot always reflect what a student has learned.
One motivation behind why kids shouldn't take Standardized test is on the grounds that it is bringing about anxiety to both educators and understudies! As per Gregory J. Cizek, these "Test" are creating uneasiness for low/high class understudies and instructors (2002). These test are demoralizing understudies in light of the fact that these test figure out if or not you graduate or not. Case in point, my companion who was a senior a year ago was told he couldn't graduate in light of the fact that he didn't breeze through his english state test his sophomore year. Due to that, the school was compelled to hold his confirmation and he didn't graduate on time.
Have you ever thought about what college you want to go to after high school? In order to get into that college, you must be accepted. Colleges look for a numerous amount of criteria in order for you to get accepted, and one of those things colleges look for is your standardized test score. The standardized test is a test administered and scored in a consistent, or “standard”, way (edglossary.org). Seeing that you must get a high enough score on the test in order for your dream college to accept you, the tests are difficult, but are very worth it at the end. Colleges have been accepting students into their school with standardized test scores for more than 50 years, and with that being said, it has seemed to work pretty well (content.time.com). In the end, standardized test scores show that you deserve to go to that college, and is also a way of showing that you’ve worked hard for so long to accomplish something huge.
Students are stressed. But, what is the goal of these tests? Are we trying to make students compete with one another to see who gets the higher score? Or are we preparing them for life outside of school? Maybe at one time these tests were used to measure how well the future leaders of our countries were learning, but now it is no longer like that. These tests seem to show no post-school value except to find the most successful kids and give them scholarships to college. Going along with this, everyone, depending on their grade, is required to take the same exact test. Despite their different ways of thinking, students are grouped together and the ones who are different are “wrong” simply because they were unable to learn it due to the way they were taught. Holding every single student to the same standards avoids the fact that everyone has a different mindset and each person may excel in different subjects. This poses a question: when will the system change? Students are held to such enormous pressure that when they meet the standards, they are convinced they’re stupid, and I struggle with this, too. However, it would be easier if all of the intimidation encountered when we are testing would just be withdrawn and students can be able to take a test, try their best, and if they don’t succeed, they can continue to work hard because, after all, a test shouldn’t determine how
To begin with standardized testing creates several critical problems for students and for the education industry. These tests are created to test over particular things. In the end these types of tests are only limited in the amount of knowledge that can be tested toward students. For example, “Standardized exams offer few opportunities to display the attributes of high-order thinking, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creativity.” (“Standardized Testing Has Serious Limitations”). Even though these tests are able to attack certain subjects at the core, they still leave out very valuable and critical information that all students should know. In
Is there an efficient and effective way of measuring ability? Throughout history, mankind has strived to find a feasible manner of tracking and comparing, their achievements and achievements in knowledge. Recently, this pursuit has led to the popularized use of standardized tests. However, standardized tests are not an effective way of measuring the knowledge of humanity. Although, if used properly, they can reflect the gathered information, it is not always correct.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of students across the nation are required to take many standardized tests. Which are used to determine student’s achievement, progress and growth. These tests supposedly say the outcome of how much knowledge a student has or has not learned. The stakes are high all because of a test score. Standardized tests may determine a pass or fail status for grade levels through K-12 or admission into colleges if you are taking an ACT or SAT standardized test. It is unfair and a very unreliable method to use to measure the performance of students. Standardized testing methods creates more harm than good and should be revised because many students, teachers, and schools suffer from this annually.
Albert Einstein once said “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Imagine a classroom packed with the small, hard desks that reek of high school. Imagine a line of students entering, each one emptying his pockets, showing his school ID, and grabbing a number two Dixon pencil before sitting down with sweaty palms and a racing heart. One student’s dog may have just passed. One student may be suffering from a bad case of strep throat. But all students are there for the same reason: To take the SAT. There are two tests by which colleges in the United States assess the likelihood of success in college, and consequently by which those colleges determine acceptance. The SAT (Standard Aptitude Testing), and/or the ACT (American College Testing) are mandatory in many states, are mandatory for college entrance in even more states, and are important enough to the remaining states that college entrance becomes far more difficult without test scores. Whether it is the SAT or the ACT, a single standardized test can set the path for which a student’s future is headed. Is it fair to put this much pressure on a single test? More importantly, is it an accurate measure of college success? Research is showing more and more that no, it is not an accurate measure of college success. Therefore, the United States should do away with standardized testing as a college entrance consideration.