The consequences of the SAT have been seen as physically and mentally deteriorating for students. However, not only does the stress affect the students preparing for the SAT, but it also affects the instructors who are required to teach the material. Many students are being “forced into their respective testing rooms for up to three hours per day, slaving away on exams that most of us have struggled through (Ayers).” Likewise, “due to the pressures faced by administration, teachers [are] essentially [forced to] teach students how to approach and solve problems expected on standardized exams (Kokoszka).” Furthermore, according to Thomas Kellaghan et al, “testing pressures teachers into teaching for the test and thus leads to a narrowing of the …show more content…
The teaching style of rote, verbal exercises “has evolved to meet institutions' needs for generating high scores in standardized testing” and that “the same harmful effect on Chinese students may be happening in British Columbia, [Canada] (Burgmann).” The harmful teaching style starts to become detrimental when it spreads, approaches, and impacts Western societies, leading to an increase of enraged parents and unhappy students. According to Dr. Zhao, a top international education consultant based in Oregon, "my extreme advice, we should do away with all of [standardized testing]” because “it's a waste of money, [has] very little value, destroys parents, destroys schools, and puts students and teachers in a bind for high-stakes testing
With the added pressure to do well in school, standardized testing becomes a means to added stress, anxiety and further complicates the pressure to succeed in a student’s life. Rather than a focus on learning and understanding, school has become a massive rope skill memorization test designed to have students memorize subjects to pass the test, and forget the material the next minute for the next test. When asked to speak about standardized testing, education chairman, Larry Taylor, said “It’s heart-wrenching, and it’s also insanity when you see the level of achievement these kids are already doing and yet they can’t even pass this test.” (Smith). The utilization of standardized testing further exemplifies and validates the idea that no matter how hard or long you work in school, your work will never be worth the few answers you write for the
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 inhibit the ability for students to perform well on stress inducing tests; thus, students question their abilities to succeed, and they lack engagement in their educational learning. Standardized tests produce the feeling of anxiety as heart beats accelerate, bodies’ tremble, faces flush, sweat pores open, hands grip tighter, and muscles tense. As the test dates come closer, students are
When people think of the education system, most can say that there are some problems, though they might not be able to pinpoint what needs to change first. If you ask most teachers, they will say that the first thing that needs to be changed in the schooling system to help the students more is the standardized testing. They will say that while it can be helpful it has a lot of faults and needs to be updated or changed to help its students. Standardized testing has often been a topic for discussion, between parents and people in the schooling system. It seems that a lot of people either hate standardized testing for not giving every child a chance to succeed, or love it for being a fair way to test whether a child knows what they need to know at their age. There have been many articles, books, and documentary’s debating on whether or not standardized testing is doing more harm then good. There was a comic made that shows the brutality and bluntness of what standardized testing is really like. Standardized Testing causes too much stress by putting unfair expectations on teens and doesn’t give every single student the chance to succeed.
Each year high school students from around the country take the SAT or ACT. The ACT and SAT are both standardized test used by colleges to determine the knowledge of a student and predict what their performance will be in their first year of college. An immense amount of pressure is put on student to receive certain scores in order to obtain scholarships and admission into college. Even just one point on a student’s score can determine if they will be accepted into their dream college. However, the results from standardized tests, such as the ACT and SAT, are often inaccurate. Because of this one’s knowledge and academic ability are misrepresented, and they are denied certain opportunities. Standardized tests such as the ACT and the SAT
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,
State-mandated standardized testing has lately become a monster to be feared by students from the beginning of their school career. According to well respected educational author Alfie Kohn, “[…] Most of today’s discourse about education has been reduced to a crude series of monosyllables: Test scores are too low. Make them go up” (Kohn 1). Why all the testing? Some is to meet the federal government requirements, some to meet state requirements, some for the district and some for the school, and still more tests are given simply to help students prepare for the ones already mentioned. So much testing has reduced time for instructors to actually teach. In addition, many of the tests neglect to cover all important material,
What once began as a simple test administered to students yearly to measure understanding of a particular subject has, as Kohn (2000) has stated, “Mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole” (p.1). Today’s students are tested to an extent that is unparalleled in not only the history of our schools, but to the rest of the world as well. Step into any public school classroom across the United States and it will seem as if standardized testing has taken over the curriculum. Day after day teachers stress the importance of being prepared for the upcoming test. Schools spend millions of dollars purchasing the best test preparation materials, sometimes comes at the cost of other important material. Although test
Cizek, Gregory J. "More Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing." Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice 20.4 (2005): 19-27. Google Scholar. Web. 8 Mar. 2017. This source explores the negative critiques of standardized testing from within the education profession. The history of high stakes tests is described to provide background information on how testing practices have evolved. Various consequences addressed include: reduction of instruction time, neglect of teaching material not covered by the tests, instruction and assessment mirroring the tests, and negative effects on teacher morale and creativity. Cizek also takes time to address the time commitment of test taking. While multiple hours spent on one test is necessary in
Standardized tests are a positive way to look at student growth and if students are reaching national benchmarks. Many standardized tests are a useful tool when deciding what college to attend, for example, the MCAT is a medical standardized that is required for all admittees into medical school. Around the country, many children are able to conform to teacher-made tests and how to navigate through them, although with standardized tests, they are raw and able to show if a student is really struggling in a specific area. Standardized tests are useful in schools across the country because they help enforce growth and how students are meeting benchmarks, while making it an equal playing field for all students.
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.
Standardized testing causes teachers to only “teach the test” which means they neglect other subjects in school to only focus on the material that will be on the test; this leaves students feeling frustrated, stressed, negative, and unengaged.In a study conducted by the Center on Educational Policy, the data showed that 71% of schools reduced time spent in class in at least one non-tested subject in order to expand the time allowed for subjects tested, such as reading and math. Similarly, 33% of schools in the districts reduced time in social studies, 29% of schools decreased time in science, and 22% reduced time spent on music and art. This causes children to become so tired with their increased amount of learning, that they become frustrated with their teachers, their peers, and the school themselves. What is society doing when it overworks kids so
I am planning on doing my causation essay over the effects standardized testing has on a students attitude and outlook on their impending future. Majority, if not all, have taken a standardized test and this life-altering questionnaire has been the source of hatred towards schooling and negatively impacts our mindset due to a simple number never being high enough to truly show what one is capable of. I recently received my SAT score and was highly disappointed that I did not achieve the score I felt I worked for. This, in turn messed up my plans for attending my top choice college because I was thrown into the “average category.” This conforming test pushes you to the limit on stress and time and is the loathed obstacle that greatly determines
Today, it can be observed that society has shifted education drastically from the time schools were constituted, to now. Throughout history, schools have gone from private, where only the elite can attend, to public schools where virtually anyone can attend. One of the factors that goes along with education is standardized testing. Frederick J. Kelly, father of the standardized test, once said, “These tests are too crude to be used, and should be abandoned.” Not only has this shift occurred within education itself, but it has occurred within the testing concepts found within standardized testing so much so that the founder of these tests has chosen to give up on it.
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.