Standardized Testing Many students around the United States have been taking standard tests since grades as young as pre-kindergarten. Standardized tests are said to prepare students for future courses and provide them with lots of useful information. These tests are supposed to be effective and fair ways of testing students and further the student's education. While many states governments believe these tests are beneficial to students the list of cons outweighs the list of pros. But are these tests actually valuable to students education? Students can be tested from the time they start pre-k and up into high school. Students, on average, take 112 standardized tests and spend over 250 hours taking these tests throughout all of grade school. These tests cause severe stress in younger students who want to do well on these tests, but older students couldn't care less about the tests and have been known to have fun due to the fact that they do not affect their grades. These tests have gotten more expensive over the years and because students have realized that they mean nothing to their future it has become a waste of money. Not only have these tests become a waste of money but a waste of students and teacher's time. Time spent preparing students for these tests throughout the year has taken away from class time and away from what the teachers really need to teach. Teachers have begun to modify their curriculum to fit the test to ensure that their students pass. Teachers can
School Standards and Testing Everyday, schools all over America are pushing students to the brink of insanity. They are giving many quizzes and tests, along with anxiety and sleep deprivation. Teachers have very high expectations, leaving students to worry about keeping their grades up. Meanwhile, students have to juggle with five to seven different classes, learning new material for each class, keeping up with sports and other after-school activities, studying each night for tests, etc.
The way students are tested in the classroom has taken over the political stage. Lawmakers hear the voices of irate parents that believe testing has become unfair and tiring for their children. As much as lawmakers witness the call for change, the political system has failed to produce significant legislation to change standardized testing. As Renee Schoof expressed in her article, “Under No Child Left Behind, schools were required to show ‘adequate yearly progress’ or face outside intervention.” Schools do not want to put student through the grueling procedure of taking numerous difficult tests, but are rather forced by the government. If schools do not show student progression on the tests they are given then the government can intervene and take over the school. Why does the government enforce testing like this? Because the impact of forcing students to constantly be examined develops administrative and economic benefits. The progression of students allows the government to not only examine the students, but the also the teachers helping them grow. Lack of growth on students’ parts leads to teachers receiving consequences like less pay or potential termination. More testing also yields profits for standardized
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.
Many forms of standardized tests are in place. There are some for college admissions, for state regulations, along with a variety of other types. The one thing they all have in common is that they are not the best way to educate students, don’t accurately indicate anything about the knowledge of the test taker, and take time away from more principal learning. Most tests are administered during school hours and given too frequently. Therefore, students are forced to miss instruction time and sit through
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.
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.
These tests measure only a small portion of what makes education meaningful. Gerald W-Bracey Phd qualities that standardized tests cannot measure “creativity, critical thinking, motivation, honesty, courage etc.”(standardizedtests.procon.org) In school a teacher knows his or her students and they usually know their personality and truly how wise they are in and outside the classroom. On a standardized test this is something that cannot be proven. For example, if a student gets their classwork and homework done and turns it in on time the teacher knows he or she is diligently trying in their class. If they happen to not do well on a test it might not be that the student isn’t smart or didn’t study, but it could be that the student just wasn’t their normal self that day. On a standardized
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.
In the United States, striving for perfection and a great education for the students becomes a necessity. With all the other pressures found in society, high expectations of a standard education among students prevail, specifically hindering the chances of getting accepted into the dream college. Nowadays, most colleges use the grades from multiple standardized tests, such as the SAT’s or ACT’s, as a way to evaluate an individual's knowledge against other students. Although usually mandatory, standardized tests overwhelm students with distressing outcomes, rather than beneficial effects, creating a standard system of unreliable measurements of a student’s performance and unfair discrimination against the non English speaking or students with
Schools are considering getting rid of standardized tests seeing that some people think they’re a waste of time. Some say this is an improvement. Others say this is a bad idea. Though schools are considering getting rid of them, schools should keep standardized tests seeing that they show they are objective in nature, they show us what we’re good at, and they allow students to be compared.
Albert Einstein once said, “Everyone 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.” America continues to fall greatly behind in the world education system and standardized testing has failed to make any improvements (Tyack, David B.). Standardized testing should not be implemented in the education system because it limits the students learning capabilities, scores are not accurate, and it causes stress for both the student and teacher.
Standardized testing is not only costly but has many negative effects to it, whether its with teachers or students. Students already have a ton of pressure on them to deal with the 6,7, or even 8 classes they have to get through each day. Some students find the pressure to hard, so it becomes stressful. Stress can lead to depression for many kids and that’s what has happened.The anxiety hasn’t completely, led to physical ailments, but the new common core testing has turned into students feeling more stressed. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America states that feelings of disappointment, anger, helplessness and fear are typical reactions to test anxiety. In my opinion, Standardized tests seem to ignore the reality that kids are at various stages in their emotional development and maturity, they are sensitive to what happens in school. Middle school students, for ex, experience an epidemic of psychological and emotional changes
“Test-related jitters, especially among young students, are so common that the Stanford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it,” comments the Sacramento Bee newspaper, regarding one of several standardized tests taken by Californian students. Standardized tests have long been regarded as a good way to evaluate teaching and learning, and are required in all fifty states. However, standardized testing should not be used in schools, as it causes several problems with education.
What do you really know about standardized tests? Some people support the standardize tests. While some people are against the standardize tests. But if you ask me, I would tell you I think that the standardize tests do not actually help students.
Ever since elementary school we have had to take tests. Most of these tests were simple and only had to do with one subject. Other tests are rather large and consist of multiple subject and there is alloted time to take these tests. These tests are standard tests that are mandatory for everyone in school to take. The purpose of the tests is to measure how well your education is going. Since you take them year after year you can see how you are progressing in your intelligence. The only problem is that there is an enormous amount of weight placed on doing well on these tests. Therefore classes give tests with similar format and questions. Students are also taught to be good test takers. With all this testing there can be unnecessary stress put on students and teachers out of fear of doing poorly. Standardized testing, while a good measurement of learning, often puts more stress on students than necessary.