Informative Essay On Standardized Tests

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 was put into place to provide extra money for children who do not have money while trading their knowledge using their test scores. The NCLB Act says that students are to be given yearly tests along with yearly report cards to track how well they are doing in school, in doing so, school is not about fun and socializing but now it is all business. These tests not only do not help the students learn but puts a load of stress on their shoulders, alongside that the tests have no purpose other than grading how well a students is able to retain information.

The purposes of standardized tests are to instruct decision making, establish program eligibility, evaluate course goals, evaluate program goals, and examine external curriculum. When a teacher gives and assesses a standardized test, they gain information about their students that helps them realize what concepts they have learned according to the agenda for the subject at hand. If the assessment is performed in a sensible amount of time and given according to the directions, this purpose should be fulfilled; however, it is a common belief that standardized tests do not work well in establishing where a student stands in a specific curriculum. The test uses a general curriculum that is the basis for the tests

Many people in the United States are concerned with the role that standardized testing has on education. Most of them have very strong views on this subject and as it usually happens with large-scale issues these views are very diverse and often opposite. Some claim that standardized testing is the best way to determine student’s skills and qualities because they are equally designed for everyone and not biased. Others, on the other hand, argue the fairness of these tests. They believe that test scores do not represent student’s knowledge. What is certain, in my opinion, is that this subject needs more attention followed by actions that will actually make difference in the education system.

In the United State there is a test called Standardized test, which comes in every level of education. Standardized test is any form of test in which all test takers are required to answer the same questions. This test is given in believe of that it will determine individual’s skill. This got introduced in the mid 1800 and ever since that, this has been one of the requirement educational background qualification. Standardized test has been an argumentative topic for a lot of people, some people think it is a good method of determining someone’s knowledge on courses. However there are people who think that standardized testing should not be the only way to measure student skills. This is not something we can conclude by just saying , we should take standardized test or we should not take standardized test, because not everyone think the same way. This topic is open to an individual perspective. This research will state both sides of standardised test, meaning will give both side information leaving the the decision to the reader whether students should take standardized test in the United states.

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

Students shouldn’t be measured by what they get on standardized test since it doesn’t show other things that the students are good at. The author wrote, “ Contrary to popular assumptions about standardized testing, the tests do a poor job of measuring student achievement. They fail to measure such important attributes as creativity and critical thinking skills.” (Opposing viewpoints in Context pg.1) The author’s main argument is that standardized tests do not show the other skill that students, schools or programs have that isn’t shown just through a test. That Standardized testing doesn’t effectively measure the achievement of students. In his or her article, the author puts what achievement is but what is based on standardized test and not other things. A lot of attributes are not measured from the standardized tests. There are some places that have rewards for “shallow thinking” (Opposing viewpoints Pg.3)

It is a tough thought for some teenagers, to imagine the idea of more tests on top of the already rigorous schoolwork. Early on Saturday mornings, one can see the procession of kids entering high schools across the country to put themselves through five hours of gruelling testing. All of this nightmarish workload is completed just for the opportunity to attend a college of some recognition and ultimately gain a job in the workforce.

A lot of public school teachers want one thing to make their school year better and that would be less testing (UCSD Guardian, 2015). When I was in high school I always hated tests; even now I have anxiety before every test. There are so many tests from quizzes, to chapters tests, exams to sats. " The average student will take 112 standardized tests between preschool and high school graduation, spending as much as 25 hours a year testing" (Kamenetz 2015). Adding that up means that 325 hours are spent from kindergarten up equaling 13.54 full days of testing. Somehow testing has become the only means of finding out how children are doing in class. As a preschool teacher who can't give bubble tests to three year olds, I find it hard to believe that

Standardized testing is used throughout schools in America to measure a student’s ability to understand the material and take a test. Consequently, these tests are being used to determine a student’s future by allowing a student to pass a grade or graduate. Various amounts of students have had to retake courses or grades because of the way they scored on a standardized test. Students feel a tremendous amount of pressure to perform well on these tests. The drawbacks of standardized testing include an administrator teaching the curriculum based on the test, and the lack of reflection of education.

Students “spend between 20-25 hours taking standardized tests each year” (Kerr and Lederman). Standardized testing is more required now that the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has been implemented. The testing puts students in a category or class based on their scores. The student could have had a bad day or is not a good test taker. Although some students do not make high scores on the tests there are some that do score high. Standardized testing is more harmful than helpful to students.

Since 1805 public schools have been the backbone of many Americans and their strive for an education. On top of this, public schools, according to the Huffington Post, equate to 91% or 50.7 million of those attending pre-Kindergarten through the 12th grade. But, with other school types such as year-round attending over 2 million students, the question begs, “Which school type provides their students with the best education”?

Standardized testing in public schools has become a norm across the United States. But, in Texas it has been found that students spend more time taking standardized tests than any other state (“Too Much Testing”). Standardized testing may be an asset to measure education, or more measure testing skills across the nation, but at what cost does it come? What are its effects on moral within the public education system, and how does the state government of Texas interact within it. Why does the Texas state government push standardized testing so hard, what benefit does Texas or other states get from the testing? There does need to be change in the standardized testing system in the United States, and more specifically in Texas. There have been

Tomorrow was the big day. The day that every student despised, but came every year. The problem that transcends national borders: standardized testing. Before I knew it, it was the final week, and time was running out. In my case, the Connecticut state test, the CMT, was in just two days. More than nervousness, there was a cloud of confusion surrounding this test for us students. Some said that preparation and study are necessary for this test, while most thought just the opposite. Some people were even saying that the scores for these tests somehow will affect our progress in school. Looking back, I don’t remember the test being all that hard, but it didn’t make sense to me. How could this one test, filled with questions that require shallow thinking and zero creativity, show the state the performance of my hard-working teachers, or the individuality and strengths of each student? Or on a larger scale, every student in the entire state?

What’s your ACT score? Students are branded with their ACT and SAT scores in society. Today’s education is heavily leaning on standardized tests. An average students takes over one hundred standardized tests in his or her school years. Standardized tests are used to measure and test the knowledge of students in a particular subject in a quick and easy way. These tests are also used to see the extend and skill of students for qualifications of certain colleges and scholarships. Some of these standardized tests include the ACT and the SAT. But do these test fully measure the strength of knowledge these students have practiced for their whole lives? Standardized testing does not allow students to fully and completely show their strength in education and instead results in breaking down students mentally and physically.

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.