Standardized Testing Argumentative Essay

Standardized testing is not an effective way to test the skills and abilities of today’s students. Standardized tests do not reveal what a student actually understands and learns, but instead only prove how well a student can do on a generic test. Schools have an obligation to prepare students for life, and with the power standardized tests have today, students are being cheated out of a proper, valuable education and forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure to succeed are being devoted to standardized tests. Standardized testing, as it is being used presently, is a flawed way of testing the skills of today’s students.

Standardized tests are completely unfair. In The Washington Post, Marion Brady argues this issue. She states that students that do not speak English or have special needs take the same tests as every other student. Also, non English speakers are taking these tests without mastering the language first. Special needs students

Standardized testing has been ruling over the lives of students, making or breaking them in their education without fair judgement. Tests like the SAT and the ACT count for way too much when applying to colleges, which in turn limits the student 's capabilities to thrive in an environment that would benefit them. There are many problems within a standardized test that deems them to be unreliable as a true test of knowledge. Although designed to test groups of students on intelligence, standardized testing neglects to fairly acknowledge the abilities of each unique student which reflect their true capabilities.

Standardized testing has been practiced in schools across America since the mid-1800’s. Today, they are used to assess where a student is placed in their educational career. Standardized tests commonly test students in the subjects of math, reading, writing, and science. Colleges also partially base their admissions on standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT. According to the Pew Center on the States, annual state spending on standardized tests rose from $423 million to almost $1.1 billion in 2008. (standardizedtests.procon.org) With states spending this much money on these tests, many question how well they actually work. Students are essentially being judged on what they know on the spot, and to many that determines

Standardized tests are not educationally beneficial. These tests are supposed to be helpful to students, however, they are the complete opposite. The article, “What's Wrong With Standardized Tests”, explains that classroom surveys show “The tests do not help a teacher understand what to do next in working with a student because they do not indicate how the student learns or thinks” (What’s Wrong). The first problem with standardized tests is that there is no indication of missed questions and contain no corrections. With no results, the teacher and the student remain clueless on what to improve. Students are given results that show improvement is needed, however, are not given an opportunity to fix their mistakes and advance their

“No issue in the U.S. Education is more controversial than (standardized) testing. Some people view it as the linchpin of serious reform and improvement, others as a menace to quality teaching and learning” (Phelps). A tool that educators use to learn about students and their learning capabilities is the standardized test. Standardized tests are designed to give a common measure of a student’s performance. Popular tests include the SAT, IQ tests, Regents Exams, and the ACT. “Three kinds of standardized tests are used frequently in schools: achievement, diagnostic, and aptitude” (Woolfolk 550). Achievement tests can be used to help a teacher assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses in a

Every student knows what it feels like to walk into school on standardized testing days and having to sit in a desk for several hours and filling out multiple choice bubble sheets. Standardized testing has been around for years and standardized testing begins as soon as kindergarten. For a while now there has been a big debate on what standardized testing measures about a student and the effects on the student. To majority of people, standardized testing is a measure of their intelligence and has positive effects on the student. However standardized testing does not accurately measure your intelligence and only measures your ability to memorize and work under pressure. A large portion of the questions on these tests are things students have

I first became aware of standardized testing when I entered third grade. I’m sure I was being tested as early as second grade. However, this is when it started to stand out to me. I finally knew the “importance” of this test and why I needed to take it seriously. Teachers, my parents, and even my peers stressed how these test’s would determine the classes I was placed in for the start of my school career. Statistics show that standardized testing is the leading cause of our public education to fail year after year. Should students in the United States be measured by bias standardized testing?

Have you ever stopped to wonder why students across the globe must forfeit valuable time in class to take nationally mandated tests? With these dreadful clouds that always seem to be blocking out the light of success, one might stop to wonder. Why? These well-known tests began in the early 1900s, when the S.A.T. made its debut. This test, the Scholastic Assessment Test, was originally used to help the government gauge how schools were handling their educational practices. In the 1940s the test began to hold weight in the academic community as colleges began requiring one’s score before admission. Then in the 1960s, the government began to try to provide more ways to properly grade school districts. For a time, these costly tests worked very well. But now in present day, as times have

Standardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some people may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay.

Standardized tests do not asses skills when their questions are generalized for an entire population. Most of the time, the tests are not in conjunction with classroom skills and behavior. These tests asses for general knowledge and understanding of students rather that their actual abilities. Since the questions are general in nature, it becomes very difficult for teachers to know how to improve the students understanding of a particular subject based on just general information. This leads to teachers “teaching to test” rather than educating students in a proper way based on the real needs of the classroom. Another reason these tests do more bad than good is the fact that teachers actually have a test booklet instructing them on what to do if a student vomits during a test. Students study so hard for these tests and simply cannot handle the pressure. So in the end, their final scores reflect not their abilities, but the influences of their surrounding factors instead.

If someone was to ask you “how do you define student achievement?” what would your answer be? Would you say student achievement is measured by state achievement tests? Or would you say that student achievement is too complex a subject to be objectively measured? There are many important skills students must be taught, and we need a way to effectively measure if they are in fact learning those skills. However, standardized tests cannot effectively show the learning of all students, especially those that are not good test takers. And of those skills that are tested, there are an endless number of arguably more important skills that aren’t being valued because they cannot be calculated. Furthermore,

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.

Standardized testing is a common practice in American schools; therefore, it is important for educators, parents, and guardians to have a good understanding of what standardized testing is, why it is done, and the impact these tests can have on educators and students alike. As with any issue, there are both those that support standardized testing and those that oppose the tests. On the one hand, some people believe that standardized testing provides an objective way of grading each student as well as the opportunity to assess the teacher’s abilities and student achievement. However, there are also those who do not believe the tests accurately assess either the teacher’s abilities or student achievement (McNeil, 2000). As you read this, you may be surprised to find that standardized tests are not all they are cracked up to be. Shortly, both the supporting and opposing sides of standardized testing will be covered. First, a short description of standardized testing will be provided.

The biggest problem with standardized testing is that they are geared towards a certain type of person, making it impossible to accurately determine someone’s intelligence or cognitive abilities. The SAT for example is made for people who think abstractly and creatively, and if you’re a person who can’t do that very well, then you’ll most likely not get a high score on the test. So, to base your whole future on a test that only evaluates a certain style of thinking and interpreting is completely unfair. These standardized tests are only making kids think that they are unintelligent or incapable of reaching certain levels of education just because they didn’t get a high score. Which isn’t true at all. These kids could just be poor