Standardized Testing In Public Education

“Mostly, they worry that common standards would reduce teaching to only a small range of testable information and would not produce the knowledge, flexibility and creativity needed. Buttressing this concern, the Center on Education Policy found that the emphasis on test-based accountability has indeed already narrowed the curriculum” (Mathis). Standardized testing has become a controversial topic recently throughout the nation because of the harsh, confined lessons teachers are being forced to give. According to a news article written by the New York Times, teenagers nationwide are taking anti-depressants to cope with test-related stress and teachers would rather retire than teach when the government seems to value testing over learning. Teachers

What is a standardized test? It is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same question, or selection of questions. Students shouldn’t have to take standardized tests because they can place a huge amount of stress on students and teachers, standardized tests are make students feel identical, standardized tests don’t provide any feedback on how to perform better.

Standardized Testing can be both a benefit to the educational community and a very serious problem. Standardized Testing is said to have negative effects on both the students and the teachers. Standardized Testing has created many problems and has become a very big factor in politics. Some people argue that the government is influencing the education system. While others believe that the government isn’t involved enough. There are many pros and cons to both but the cons outnumber the pros.

According to Education reform, “a standardized test is any form of test that (1) requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that (2) is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance or individual students or groups of students.”

In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed to improve the education system. Standardized testing is one of the results of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. States are required by law to test students every year from 3rd grade to 8th grade and once from 10th grade to 12th grade in at least reading and math. Here in Georgia, the test is the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT). Standardized testing is both good and bad for a student, the school, and the teachers. With all of its’ pros and cons, standardized testing should remain an important aspect of our school system.

When I was in grade school there was a large push for us students to excel in standardize testing. In recent years I have been more and more aware that these tests are not so much about us as students. What it is about is the school proving that their little education community is superior to others in a fight for funding. That’s not to say that the public school system is poor, or that I feel I have been done a disservice by attending public school. I loved my high school, I am just simply concerned with how much conformity was encouraged in that community. I remember, vividly, being told by one of my English teachers that my opinion was wrong because it did not match the opinions expressed in the text book. This was one of the most extreme

Every year students are under the pressure of proving to the state of California their skills. Today it seems that standardized testing is the main focus in public education. Some believe it can detect the abilities of a student. Others think testing does nothing to prove a child understands the academic content. Testing is not correct at detecting students ability to apply their knowledge. Also, it only benefits students that are good at testing, so it sets the rest up to fail.

“Persuaders often use repetition their likelihood of making a connection with audience members” (Borchers 26). The argument used for supporting standardized testing, uses the fact that it will help our children learn and our teacher to keep on the same pace throughout the country. The argument against standardized testing is that it puts too much pressure on students and teachers. This is repetitive told to teachers, parents and state legislatures when this issue is debated. “Standardized testing in the 19th century was originally used to compare different teachers’ evaluations of identical student’s work or to compare teacher’s marks” (Phelps). When this

The ongoing controversy revolving standardized testing within public schools continues as the correlation between student, along with teacher, achievement and the use of standardized testing is researched. Some deem standardized testing as an inevitable way to determine student progress, while others relate more towards negative effects from standardized testing.

A Standardized test is a form of test that all students across the nation take at one point. These tests are federally mandated, timed, and designed to measure students performance in basic subjects. All students receive the same questions on the test so it's supposed to be multiple choice questions that ‘fits all’ students. Standardized testing does not measure the knowledge of students, although many schools require students take them.

A standardized test, according to James Popham, is “Any test that is administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner”. Tests like these have been around for centuries, noticeably since the 1800’s in the United States. Today's tests are forms of those created in 1965 for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In 2002, these tests were enforced in all schools in every state of this country as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act (Is the Use…).

Getting an education is the main goal for everyone, although it is easy to obtain there are some obstacles to it. One of the main obstacles students face at the beginning of their education is standardized tests. Schools have started to adopt this type of tests as their main way to evaluate students’ intelligence and teachers’ effectiveness to educate the students. The way students used to learn has changed, in order to get them ready for the tests they have to spend much of the school time preparing for it instead of learning something they can use in their future life. According to Bruce Jacobs in No Child Left Behind's Emphasis on 'Teaching to the Test' Undermines Quality Teaching, a 2007 study by the University of Maryland teachers were put in much pressure and had thoughts to teach the test […]. This shows that teachers have also been affected by standardized tests in a way they have more pressure to make students pass. Having teachers ‘teach the test’ means their way to educate has been corrupted. In most cases when teachers’ ability to educate has been changed leads them to practice methods not convenient for scholars. One of these methods is memorization, in Relying on High-Stakes Standardized Tests to Evaluate Schools and Teachers: A Bad Idea by Hani Morgan describes how students start to adapt to an “inferior type of learning, based on memorization and recall students gain when teachers

If I could change one thing in our school it would be standardized testing. Standardized tests are implemented at almost every grade-level and in all subject areas. The tests are administered to students of all academic, demographic and economic backgrounds. The results are used to determine the educational path the student should follow. However, I believe standardized assessments only give one snapshot of a student’s ability. Students work hard all year in class. One test should not determine the future for a student. The requirements of passing standardized tests for class credit and educational planning should be removed from schools.

The use of a standardized test in the education system seems to be extremely popular amongst schools in the United States. Their purpose is to grade a students’ academic performance through out the entire school year. Their involvement in the system has triggered much debated between instructors, scholars, and parents. Alongside much controversy surrounding these exams, teachers continue their use and it appears to be increasing instead of decreasing. With that being said, others consider the practice of a standardized test to be a fair form of comparison. Acknowledging its origin and its purpose for individual growth. Members who apprehend these sides of the argument reach out towards the opposed explaining their sympathy for it and recognize the concept of a standardized test as a tool for the improvement in the education system as a whole.

A standardized test is any form of test that (1) requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that (2) is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of individual students or groups of students. (Cite Source)