Is Standardized Testing Really

These standardized tests are used by schools because they find that it is an easy way to test a student’s ability. However, the

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 tests take away from a teacher’s flexibility and creativity. With that in mind, teachers do not fit into the same mold either. Each teacher has their own style of teaching and should be given the flexibility to teach in a way that will inspire their students. Teachers are not able to be as creative in their teaching styles, when focused on test preparation. Many talented teachers leave the field of education when they lose the freedom to teach their own way. Teaching has gone from a creative art to a structured implementation as the focus shifts to standardized tests.

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 tests do not cover real-life topics. Standardized tests are less educational than parents think. States make schools take these tests in-order to get more funding and to see how the teachers are performing. These tests have many effects on the students and their grades. The Kansas Silent Reading Test is one of the first known multiple choice standardized test in America. This test was created to reduce “Time and Effort” in administration and scoring (Standardized). Although schools do use the standardized testing methods in the classrooms today that was not what it was originally used for. Standardized testing began in the United States during WWI because the Army needed a method to determine which soldiers were “Officer Material” (Billy 75).

Would you like to take a test that is unfair, expensive, and unreliable? Chances are you already have. Standardized testing in schools is not only bad for the students, but also bad for our country’s future. Some might think standardized testing is a good thing, because it is the only way to measure all students the same across the country. However, this thought is wrong for many reasons.

The stress settled in once the word ‘testing’ echoed through the classroom. The students knew what it brought, and they knew how dreadful it would be; sitting in one room, hour after hour and day after day, silent and still, with only the sound of the clock resonating through their heads. Standardized tests are assessments that local and national governments may require their students to take. However, these tests do not properly evaluate their intellect, and only lead to tension and mental strain on a student’s attentiveness. Although many schools believe that these assessments are productive, it is proven that they are not beneficial to students because standardized testing leads to stress and anxiety, it is wasting valuable classroom time,

Teachers strive for their students to score well because the score also reflects on their teaching. Teachers seem to no longer teach for students to learn material and retain knowledge but to “ace” tests. Some learn to teach according to the test. Students learn the information that is going to be on the test but do not necessarily fully understand the material they are learning. There are certain standards that have to be met with each test. In most states part of the scores reflect the

A main issue why you cannot judge a teacher based off their students test scores is because some factors are out of their control. In any classroom across the world there are some students who are smarter than others. (Popham 13) Some can be excellent at math, while others can exceed in science. (Popham 13) A teacher can give over a lesson in a clear and succinct way but there will always be students who do not do well. (Popham 13) Recent thinking among leading educators suggest that there are various forms of intelligence, and a child who is born with less classroom skills may possess other abilities that will not be shown by a test. (Popham 13) For a student as such, a teacher is limited in finding a successful approach to help them gain a high test score.

Standardized tests are often unfair to a wide range of students. Students coming from high-poverty schools often have fewer resources and weaker teachers (Layton A1). “People are sick of the overkill of test volume and the consequences, ridiculous things like rating art teachers based on the reading test scores in their schools” quote Robert Schaeffer (Layton A1). “Fort Myers, Florida, gives 183 tests during the year!” quote Sen. Patty Murray (Layton A1). There is many ways students can be evaluated more

Standardized testing is very high in costs and is not actually needed (Jouriles). Most teachers can already

Ever since then standardized testing has been a huge part of education. Teachers across the nation had to teach to the curriculum instead of what they thought the students needed to learn. Nowadays colleges strictly look at ACT and SAT scores rather than classroom grades, because they believe that some teachers grade on a curve and are not giving the students a fair chance. Standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance. A 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-over-year tests core improvements were temporary and “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning…”(“Standardized Tests”). Teachers are stressed over if they are teaching “correctly”. They went to a 4-year college, some even more, to get a degree in something that they wanted to do, either for themselves or for the children, and now they have to “teach to the test”. Tests can only measure a portion of the goals of education. A pschometrician, Daniel Koretz says, “standardized tests usually do not provide a direct and complete measure of educational achievement.”(Harris, Harris, and Smith).

Standardized testing creates a lot of stress on students and educators alike. Because of how much stress is put on them to prepare students for these tests, many excellent teachers quit their jobs everyday. In fact, in April, new federal data stated that 17 percent of new public school teachers leave their profession after four years due to stress and other reasons. Some teachers fail to teach students skills that go beyond the tests because they’re so pressured to get their students ready for these exams. This amount of stress can lead to feelings of negativity towards school and learning in general as well as cause negative health issues. Standardized tests places a large amount of stress on both teachers and students.

There are many different types of standardized tests used in schools around the country, but “high-stakes” achievement tests in US elementary and secondary schools have produced

The debate on standardized tests and its adequacy in testing a student’s knowledge about a subject has been going on for many years. Tests, in general, has been around for centuries and without them there would not be progress and no gleams of progress. Students ranging from elementary school to high school have experienced standardized testing. Teachers, educators, and parents are also involved in the students’ lives, which revolves around the tests, one way or another. There are many views on standardized test. However, the three most common views are: educators who are for standardized test which benefits students, educators who are at the other extreme of opposing standardized tests, and educators who view tests are a benefit if done in appropriate amounts.