Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

Standardized tests are exams that are supposed to measure a child’s academic knowledge but have long been a controversial subject of discussion. Although it is one method to see how a child is performing, is it the best method? Standardized testing can be biased or unfair, inhibit both the teacher’s and the children’s creativity and flexibility, affect funding for schools, cause untested subjects to be eliminated from the curriculum, and cause anxiety for children and teachers.

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.

Texas takes the STAAR, Alabama the ARMT, and Hawaii the HSA. Each state in the U.S. has a standardized test required of every student. From the ACT and SAT to the STAAR tests, standardized testing has become common practice for almost every student. The earliest records of standardized testing are when in China, anyone wanting to get a job in government had to fill out their knowledge of Confucian philosophy and poetry in examination. As more and more kids began to go to school during the Industrial Revolution, standardized testing spread as a way to quickly and easily test a large number of students. But not everyone agrees with the tests, stating that they are unreliable, and that the stakes are too high. Standardized tests cause immense amount of stress for not only students, but teachers as well. And the tests might not even be effective, causing more anxiety than it's worth.

Since Middle School, I was not opposed to standardized testing. I thought of it as a way of testing us of what we have learned. Although, after reading some articles about standardized testing I am re-thinking the pros and cons. From personal experience, I thought of it as a challenge to pass them. But now that reminisce about it, I noticed some of the cons of standardized testing. I remember having a week or two dedicated for testing, and in case of students failing they had to take time to redo it. It would take a while for all the students to finish their tests. And after remembering how it was back in those times I was more on the opposed side.

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

One of the biggest topics in the educational world is standardized tests. All fifty states have their own standards following the common core curriculum. There are many positives and negatives that go with the standardized tests. A standardized test is any type of “examination that's administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, 1999). These standardized tests are either aptitude tests or achievement tests. Schools use achievement tests to compare students.

Growing up in Chesapeake every student is forced to take a standardized test at the end of every class they take. Standardized testing has been a part of the educational system for so long that everyone is just accustomed to taking these tests or giving them out. Standardized testing does not just effect the students but it also effects the teachers. Chesapeake School Board should get rid of standardized testing in all grade levels because of different learning style, it limits the teachers to what they can teach and poor test scores.

Even though there are many downsides to standardized testing there are still viable reasons why they are still being used today. One of the main reasons includes the easy and quick access of testing students. Standardized testing allows schools to quickly access a large amount of students at one time. This is also one of the cheapest ways to tests such a large crowd due to machinery that grades which results in low tests costs for students. These tests also help by setting a national curriculum for all high school teachers to teach in schools. “It provides guidelines for curriculum. Standardized tests give teachers a structure of what needs to be taught. This helps keep classroom material consistent across the country” (“Pros and Cons of

The United States education system has been using standardized testing since the 1800’s. Since the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 mandated annual testing in all 50 states their use has escalated tremendously. Since 2002 America has dropped from 18th to 31st in mathematics and science while reading has not improved either (ProCon). The failure of the education system has been blamed on various outlooks. There may be many factors, but standardized testing has not shown a substantial positive effect. In fact, it has hurt our students, teachers and the education system as a whole. Although some say that it holds valuable information, the negatives severely outweigh the positives in standardized testing.

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.

At the end of every school year comes testing season, these standardized tests have caused a great debate of whether or not they should be removed. For about 9 months students are graded by many different techniques and test and they earn those quarterly grades, then they take the test and are in fear of failing the class. The article Examining the Pros and Cons of standardized Testing by Derrick Meador he talks about the benefits of these test, he also adds the cons of them towards the end of his writing. I disagree with his writing because tests such as sats, acts, the eoc, and for Florida the Fsa, are test based on what you should know but you have already proved that with your grades. I believe these test are hurting students who are bad test takers, it's stressful for both students and the teachers, and the test bring on too much at one time.

42% of high school seniors in Ohio are not set to graduate because of their poor scores on standardized tests. Students all over the United States are forced to participate in statewide standardized tests each year. Many claim that standardized testing allows for teachers to help their students easier, and that it holds school districts accountable. While school mandated standardized testing can be useful, statewide standardized testing is ineffective and negatively impacts students.

“Attaching high stakes to test results increases cheating and other efforts to boost scores without improving educational quality. This can be done by arranging for low-scoring students to be absent on test day or pushing them out of school.” ¹ Standardized testing is used in most schools, it is an easy way to make sure everyone has the same questions and grading system. It became very popular in 2001, when the “No Child Left Behind Act” was reauthorized, this requires third to eighth grade to be tested yearly in reading and math and once in high school. Some of these tests are now given on a computer and sent directly to the grading “center”, although you do not normally get answers back for several weeks to months. Most of the schools do

Much of what we are led to believe about standardized testing is false. Repeated use and drilling of these tests, has led people to believe they are beneficial to students’ learning. This can have an impact on new tests and standards set in school systems. Frequent studies have shown that these tests might do more harm than good. Here are 5 myths that should be rejected by anyone who wishes to improve the school system.

Taking standardized is very popular when trying to evaluate a student academic achievement. These test are usually taken once you hit junior year in high school or when trying to apply for college. Some students argue that one test is harder than the other, therefore taking these test has both benefits and drawbacks. When picking which test to take you should always consider the following, which suits you best, are you good in science, and are you better at solving problems or remembering the material. The two most common standardized tests in the USA are the SAT and he ACT. The SAT evaluates skills in vocabulary and mathematics, while the ACT test your knowledge and also includes science. The purpose of this test is to be able to look at the