Standardized Testing In The United States

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.

Another theme presented in multiple articles was a rise in cheating. Source number one, “Do Standardized Tests Show an Accurate View of Students’ Abilities”, believes that because the push to do well on standardized tests is such a priority, “some institutions consider cheating” (Concordia University). Source number two, “Is the Use of Standardized Test Improving Education in America,” disagrees, explaining that cheating by administrators and students is not an issue, and not a reason to terminate standardized testing. This source also clarifies that “[i]t is likely that some cheating occurs, but some people cheat on their tax returns also, and the solution is not to abolish taxation” (Standardized Tests - ProCon.org). Source number three, “Test Our Children Well”, proposes a solution that by using the “testing effect”, “teachers could develop new tests questions each week for each class…” (Emanuel 10) and by doing so, will eliminate the opportunity for student to cheat on exams.

When a student has the ability to pursue classes that interest them, combined with teachers that enable the students to understand more and push themselves, the students will be more inclined to continue to go to school and find a topic that they are passionate about, that they would then hopefully be able to make a career out of. Students that are surrounded by negativity and a setting that distracts from the importance of learning and pressures the student is one that ultimately reduces the output of education that the politicians are so concerned with. Students can tell when they are being taught for a test. In NJ, all the way from the NJASK through PARCC testing through the SAT/ACT, it is obvious that there is an underlying issue in the education system. From 3rd Grade everything becomes a means to an end. What happens, though, if what a student is capable of and what they are good at is not on a test? Those students can be left behind or thought lesser of. Frustration sets in when a person becomes bored as well as when they are not properly understanding the material. Albert Einstein stated that “If you judge a fish based on how well it climbs a tree it will always feel stupid.” Standardized testing is good for creating a basis of knowledge and a starting point for the school system to make sure that each citizen can have a basic level of understanding, but there are many people that are not wired for standardized testing and traditional education. So many people have so many different skill sets, innate and developed. Those that can paint and have a vision like Picasso may not show this on their testing. This is the same as how those that are taking high level calculus and then the math section of the SAT. The questions are not the same. The thinking is meant to be misleading. This does not provide a fair

Since the mid-1800s, standardized tests have played a part in America’s education system. In 1969, the Federal Department of Education began focusing on the educational achievement of students. In 1994, the Clinton administration revised the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, created during the War on Poverty, to reduce achievement gaps in kindergarten through twelfth grade public education. The Clinton administration made every state that received money from the federal government for high-poverty schools begin testing their students annually. In 2002, President George W. Bush created another reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - the No Child Left Behind Act; which focused on giving all children the opportunity

Standardized testing usage in the United States has increased since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2002. The purpose of these exams is to assess the skills and knowledge a student should be receiving from school. These tests occur annually, and often have high stakes for the students being tested. However, despite all the testing, the United States is ranked 20th globally in terms of its education system. On the other hand, Finland has been 1st since the year 2000, and their use of standardized testing is practically nonexistent. Do tests accurately assess a student’s performance? Studies show that testing does not properly measure the value of the education a student receives, and often tests discriminate against students who are

Standardized testing in my opinion has taken away too much focus on the real academic needs of students. Standardized testing has become the primary focus for schools on how they measure students’ academic growth, but I feel it should be just one of the tools teachers use to assets their students.

The amount of issues with standardized testing is astounding. One big issue that has gotten out of control in the past years is the excessive use of testing. Rizga stated, “A child entering prekindergarten today will take, on average, 113 standardized assessments by the time he or she graduates from public school.” (40). Between grades 3 to 8, public school students take about 10 to 20 standardized tests per year (Rizga, 40). In America, students attending public schools take more standardized tests than others in any other “industrialized” country (Rizga, 40). Also, urban students spend far more time on district-mandated tests than their suburban counterparts (Rizga, 41). To be exact, a recent study demonstrated that urban high school students

Former president of the American Educational Research Association, W. James Popham, defines standardized tests as "any test that's administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner"(qtd. in ProCon). Standardized testing was first introduced to the American education system in the mid-1800s. The Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was the reauthorization of the Johnson administration’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which emphasized equal access to education, high standards, and accountability. The revised law increased the federal government's role in education, in terms of holding schools accountable for student academic performance. The result of the 2002 induction of No Child

Standardized testing has been incorporated in the United States since the mid-1800s. Therefore when the “No Child Left Behind Act” was mandated, the United States began to slip behind the 18th in the word. With this failures in the education system, it has been remotely blamed on the teacher quality, tenure policies, rising poverty levels, and the increase pervasive use of standardized testing.

A research of 100-year analysis of testing, indeed prove that.“93% of studies on student testing, including the use of large-scale and high-stakes standardized tests, found a ‘positive effect’ on student achievement.” The positive effect can look upon as any increase on the students’ achievement. The increase can be anything from 1% to having a B turned into an A in your report card. However, The United States has been doing worse after the No Child Left Behind Act, compared to other countries. “After No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, the US slipped from 18th in the world in math on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in reading.” This clarifies what are the intentions of the The United States Education system, they focus on how to test the process of the students, They’re creating an education system that focuses on preparing their students to meet their standards. The results of the The United States wanting to focus on standardized tests is making us stay behind, compared to other countries. That itself is a warning sign, the The United States need to take a different route, if we want to be anywhere close to other countries.Not only are the standardized testing leaving us behind, but the tests

A big aspect of getting into college in this day and age is one’s ACT/SAT score. Students stress their whole high school career just for this one day that they take the test. This is causing families to go to the extremes of visiting psychologists all over the country until they find one who is willing to misdiagnose their child with ADD or ADHD. They do this so that they can get medication to make them focus and/or get extended time on their test. (Robbins) This makes testing unfair to students who who do not go to this extreme, as well as student who actually need these medications and extensions. One test on one random day does not show a true education. For instance the science section of the ACT does not show the prior knowledge of what a student knows in the subject, but instead their ability to read and understand what is already written on the pages. Schools now are so caught up in increasing how a school looks as a whole, so they try to improve the test scores by teaching to the test, doing so, was less important in the past. When in reality, this is not working. The average ACT score has not changed very much from 1997-2017 (Aldric). This shows that even though schools are focusing on the test, scores are not increasing. Schools should stop conforming to standardized test principles and start making education a more personalized process.

Despite how the tests are supposed to engage the minds and allow them room to grow in intelligence and creativity, they don't. The tests are all the same, therefore all students are being taught the same criteria. Teachers are forced to teach to the standardized testing, cramming the curriculum into short days not being able to fully teach any of their other topics. Therefore, students aren't able to fully learn the material. Nicholas Ferroni asked some of his students what they thought about them. A sophomore stated, "I think standardized testing is a waste of time and money. Life is more open-ended, not multiple choice" (Ferroni). This shows the limitation of the testing, not allowing any of our minds to grow other ways than what the government

After the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, standardized testing has been required in all 50 states. Since standardized testing has become mandatory, the United States ranking in various subjects has decreased. One of the reasons there has been failure in the US education system is the increase in use of standardized testing. From kindergarten to 12th grade, students will take about 122 standardized tests. Although standardized tests are a dependable measure of a student's academic understanding, these tests immensely limit the curriculum taught in schools

Standardized tests are used in every school across the country, whether they are public schools, private schools or home schools, in order to test its students’ knowledge based off of a “standard” set from the government. These standards are the same for all states in the country and are used to place the students who take them in a certain spot amongst the rest of the students in that same grade level across the country, which isn’t fair. Each student has their own personal way of learning and retaining knowledge and they all have skills that vary. In order to capture the individual skills of those students, these tests need to be changed. They must account for even more ways that students can show their knowledge and classrooms must find a way to make these tests just something that they have to do, not something that their entire future relies on. To do this, these tests should be changed by updating how they are taken, their formats, and reduce their significance, both for students and school systems, in order to reduce anxiety levels in students who take them.

Both parents and educators have vocalized their opinions on the increasing number standardized tests the government is allowing in efforts to try to improve the American school system. In light of the No Child Left Behind legislation under President George W. Bush, the government is