Arguments Against Standardized Testing

In the United State there is a test called Standardized test, which comes in every level of education. Standardized test is any form of test in which all test takers are required to answer the same questions. This test is given in believe of that it will determine individual’s skill. This got introduced in the mid 1800 and ever since that, this has been one of the requirement educational background qualification. Standardized test has been an argumentative topic for a lot of people, some people think it is a good method of determining someone’s knowledge on courses. However there are people who think that standardized testing should not be the only way to measure student skills. This is not something we can conclude by just saying , we should take standardized test or we should not take standardized test, because not everyone think the same way. This topic is open to an individual perspective. This research will state both sides of standardised test, meaning will give both side information leaving the the decision to the reader whether students should take standardized test in the United states.

Many different types of tests can be “standardized” in the same way. Test specialists consider the standardized tests to be a fair and objective methods of assessing the academic achievement of students, mainly because the standardized format, coupled with computerized scoring, reduces the potential for favoritism and subjective evaluations. Standardized tests could be used for different educational purposes. As an example, they could be used to determine the student’s academic performance and identify students who need academic support and place students in different course levels or award diplomas. Assessment tests are one forms of standardized tests and it has been designed to measure the skills and knowledge students learned in school, and determine the academic progress they have made over a period of time. For example the assessment test students need to take at the beginning of the first year of college or university. The assessment tests can be used to identify the academic placement for a student too. For educational purposes they can be used to hold schools and educators accountable for educational results and student performance, to evaluate whether students have learned what they are expected to learn, to determine if they have met learning

Imagine, a world where there was no more standardized testing. Standardized testing is definitely something that all schools use now. Standardized testing is traced back from “seventh-century China, when the government began administering written exams to select candidates for the civil service.”(Standardized Testing).Standardized testing in the pass to now is being used to classify students into their classes. (Standardized testing). Standardized testing should be eliminated from schools.

A new PDK/Gallup poll shows that most Americans oppose nationwide Common Core tests, and view other criteria such as engagement with classwork and feedback about school more important than performance in standardized testing in measuring the effectiveness of schools.

“Standardized test are not even necessary because it barely shows what we already don’t know. It has proven to just be a waste of money and even teachers will tell students that there is no need for the testing” (Jouriles). Plenty of needs for the state can be taken care of if the state would let standardized test go and distribute the test money to other needs. The test are rigged anyway therefore, students cheat because the curriculum is too hard. “The performances from the assessments are not great and that is mainly because the tests are not taken seriously and the information is not relevant to what has been taught” (Jouriles). With that being said standardized testing is neither worth the budget nor importance of education.

Diane Ravitch once said “Sometimes, the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.” Standardized test “is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way.” Different students will take the same test and then the test will be evaluated by professors to see how students did. Standardized tests also provides teacher evaluation, to evaluate if the professor is teaching the students in the right way and if students are understanding what the professor is teaching. Like many issues in education, standardized test is a controversial topic among professors, voters and parents. A lot of people believe that standardized testing is good for student and they show student’s achievements. Others disagree and believe that standardized tests don't measure student’s learning.

I agree that standardize testing it's not an efficient way to evaluate educators. Unfortunately, student performance on standardized achievement test has become the primary factor by which most communities often judge their school staff’s success (Popham, 1999). Parents and the community often believe just because a school is achieving high test grade on state assessment test that the school staff is competent. Moreover, when a school has low standardized test score the community often perceives the school’s teachers as incompetent. This perception is not correct and has resulted in good teachers to being labeled as underperforming teachers making it tough for them to overcome this mark.

Recently I visited the Careerline Tech Center, located in Holland, MI, for an open house on the courses that they offered there for juniors and seniors. One course that caught my attention was the Teacher’s Academy class taught there. The high school students who enrolled in this course gave younger students the opportunity to have control over their learning and testing experience, which is unlike anything that I have ever experienced. These younger students were able to take tests in a variety of ways, which allowed them to reflect what they knew more accurately and share their knowledge of a topic better than they could on a standardized test. Since then, I have asked myself, “what would the impact be if all schools switched over to a system of teaching kids and testing them using their individual learning style(s)? I believe that switching to this system would help all students

According to Procon.org a nonpartisan, nonprofit, public charity aimed to provide professionally researched pro, con, and related information says “Standardized tests have been a part of the American Education System since the mid-1800s.” Tests have been a major part of the U.S. education system and it still is today. Since 2002 the use of standardized testing has increased by a great margin although the U.S. rankings in math and science dropped dramatically. In 2002 the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) which mandated annual testing in all 50 states. According to the Aspen Journal many tests like Colorado’s test, The Transitional Colorado Assessment Program (TCAP) verifies that a “student is learning what the teacher

Absolutely there are things that I don’t believe are good decisions when working with young adults. Should as the test the school district give the students, for example my daughter’s teacher was out of school for three month. Just this last week her and her peers had to take the standardized test, they didn’t understand many parts of the math section. It went as far as the children went home to their parents, there was one parent that told the principal we didn’t think it was fair that the students weren’t prepared for this test, yet it was going to have a large impact on their test scores and cums. One of the best example of how important these tests are, “Standardized tests have become the main instrument for determining children’s worth

Standardized tests have been a controversial issues in our society today. It schools today, we are often stressing differentiated instruction and making lessons based on our student’s different learning styles which is great and we should be doing. But are the tests differentiating for our different learners? I believe these tests are not differentiating and many student’s who are not good test takers are being penalized and teachers are being penalized as well. Standardized tests are often unfair to English language learners and special education students because they are not made for all students. Standardized tests are often made for a select number of students and the other students are left to suffer with the consequences of doing well

Standardized testing is any test that remains the same and is given in the same manner to all test takers. Standardized testing began in China as a part of job applications. They became more frequently used in the early 1900’s to determine an individual’s intelligence. The army used these tests to determine if soldiers were officer material. In 2000, Finland had the highest PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores in the world. Finland uses very little standardized testing compared to other countries. It has been proved that high performing countries (Finland, Japan China) do not use standardized testing. The controversy about if standardized testing was truly helpful and if it showed a true reflection of a student’s

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.

The definition for standardized testing is, “A test administered and scored in a consistent or standard manner, administered under standardized or controlled conditions that specify where, when, how and for how long students respond to the questions. In standardized tests, the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent. A well designed standardized test provides an assessment of individual’s mastery of a domain of knowledge or skill.” (US Legal, 3) Standardized testing is to assess a student’s knowledge in the main academic areas. These tests are created to be unbiased, so they are suppose to ensure that the score a student receives is an accurate measurement of their ability and progress.

Standardized testing is ruining public education as we know it. Standardized tests set out to create standards and curriculums for teacher’s material and student’s education that look good on paper, but ultimately fail in execution.