Standardized Testing: A Case Study

Standardized testing is known to improve students’ education, but is it really needed in school? Standardized testing determines whether a student is prepared for the next grade based on their test scores. While some students do great on their test others struggle a lot. Not all students are good test takers; majority of the students do good in school but struggle when it comes down to testing. While many agree that standardized testing helps improve students education, it shouldn’t be necessary in school because one test score shouldn’t determine a student’s readiness or academic level.

Standardized testing in the United States started in the mid- 1800’s (Standardized Tests - ProCon.org). This kind of testing was originally created to measure students’ performance and progress in school (Standardized Tests - ProCon.org). In recent years, the public school system has relied heavily on the information this test provides, in doing so creating controversy. Other than being a student myself, and participating in multiple standardized exams such as, CSAP, ACT, and SAT, I do not have much background knowledge on this debate. The debate over standardized testing has raised this inquiry question: What are the effects of standardized testing on the United States public education system?

Alarming is an understatement when it comes to the anxiety and stress standardized testing brings. Students are told how vital these tests can be to college acceptance, class placement, and school ranking, so it is no surprise that they lead students to become stressed out and anxious about taking the assessments. According to education researcher Gregory J. Cizek, "illustrating how testing... produces gripping anxiety in even the brightest students, and makes young children vomit or cry, or both" (2). The affect standardized testing has on students is unacceptable, no students should be anxious and uneasy about going to school due to a test. To continue, the Sacramento Bee reported that "test-related jitters, especially among young students,

Thoughts about the ACT or SAT give most students sleepless nights. Well, it is an important test but getting overwhelmed by it is not going to help. These few fun facts about the ACT/SAT are just what you need when you are looking for a short, refreshing distraction from the intense studying. The ACT/SAT should be the main factor in college acceptance because it gives minorities an equal chance of admission, it provides a standard for all students of all high school backgrounds to achieve, and test you on the basic skills you need to know after leaving high school anyway.

Standardized testing is used to tell students level in certain areas of academics; however, it is actually a waste of time and money.

M., & Barton, K. (2003). Assessing Students With Disabilities: Issues and Evidence. Los Angeles: The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved from http://cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/TR587.pdf

I definitely agree with Judge Jerry Baxter’s decision to incarcerate the teachers accused of cheating on standardized testing. Nine out of ten teachers who were brought before Judge Baxter were sentenced anywhere between one and seven years in jail. These, so called, “educators” were accused of giving students answers and erasing and changing answers on tests after they were turned in. Overall, the behavior of these teachers showed poor moral conduct and most likely ended up “ruining” their students education.

I t is well known that Standardized testing is not popular with students, but many teachers also do not agree with the method as well. Teachers see the testing as a burden and an end to creative and fun curriculum. Teachers teach all year for what will be on the test. Students are forced to learn by memorization quickly with so much knowledge being imposed on them at one time. Teachers have to teach so many core factors that they do not have hours to spend the wanted and needed lot of time on certain content. The article “It’s déjà vu all over again!” includes comments from educators on testing “The tests tend to measure factual memorization of names and dates, rather than important conceptual understandings and interpretations” (pg.199). Children can profess when and where The Battle of Gettysburg was, but could not express what the speech was about and the lasting impositions of the speech. They memorize a topic to pass a test. That is standardized testing. That is not learning.

Recently, the amount of standardized testing in the United States increased drastically. “Students are taking between ten and twenty standardized tests, depending on the grade. A total average of one hundred thirteen different ones by graduation”(Locker). A few years ago the United States, along with other nations, was given a test to assess the academic strengths and weaknesses of each nation and rank them accordingly. When the results were released and the United States was ranked near the bottom, the nation decided to start incorporating more testing through school. Between benchmark, TLI, PARCC, and common core standards, teaching pedagogy changed once again. Standardized testing has had a negative effect on teachers

In conclusion the school counselor plays many roles in testing and assessment of students. They can administer the test, share the results of the test etc. Standardized testing are now of a norm in today's schools. Children start testing as young as four years of age. The NCLB act was put in place so that the school could be accountable for a student passing or failing. Standardized testing is a way for the school to see where the students academic levels are. There are benefits and repercussion for the school depending on how well the students did on the test. School counselors do not like to make a major decision about a student's education based off of one test. The like to look at the students projects, work assignments, and class performance

The original form of standardized testing had a fine proposal for accountability and quality control, but constant legislation change make it difficult for teachers to redesign and modify lesson plans to align with federal and state guidelines. Which have confused and disorganized the system, as well as the massive population increase and sizeable amount of academic and environmental variables.

For many years America has been called a world leader and sometimes even a superpower among countries worldwide, but one thing Americans fail to realize is that America is anything but a world leader in education. A study was done regarding the top ten education systems in the world and the research showed, “In 2014, Edudemic did an analysis of countries and their education success or lack thereof and found the U.S. ranked 14th” (Lepi). Research also found that, “Finland came in at number one in 2012 and an interesting fact came to the surface; Finland does not participate in any standardized testing” (Lepi). Another statistic that is eye-opening is that, “Following the passage of NCLB on Jan. 8, 2002, annual state spending

GED, SAT, ACT, and more test are standardize tests. Students need to take this test in order to graduate from high school or college. In American society, standardize tests are test that schools use to measure students’ academic achievement, or to show whether students are ready to progress to the next stage of their educations. While the test is designed to measure student’s ability, many people are concerned about the use of the tests. Standardize test can measure students’ knowledge, but it is not meant to be testing students’ creativity and other skills. I believe that the schools should not over use the standardize tests because standardize tests can only measure small part of education. Also, the test does not value diversity and is unreliable

For this case study I will explore African Americans performance in school on standardized tests from a parents’ perspective. I will analyze data from interviews of three African American mothers of students who attend a particular elementary school. I will also collect and analyze data from Texas’ standardized test (STAAR) from the previous school year.

“Teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests,” Barack Obama. W. James Popham of ascd.com says “If a schools standardized test scores are high, people think the schools staff if effective. But if the schools scores are low they assume the schools teaching methods are not effective.” Some believe they can be good because they focus on certain skills and eliminate time wasting activates that make learning enjoyable. Although some may believe them to be beneficial, standardized testing shouldn’t exist because they cause severe stress in students, are unfair, and they do not prepare kids for the real world.