Standardized Testing Is Taking Up So Much Time

Years ago, standardized testing was introduced to school systems to measure capability and knowledge of the students. The tests were supposed to help point out issues in the school’s instruction method and to encourage the administration to fix the problems. Even though these tests started as an excellent way to help the education system, their effects have changed over time. Standardized testing should be discontinued because it cannot represent the true knowledge of a student, it narrows what a student can learn during the year, and it can be altered to misrepresent the true scores of students to benefit the faculty and administration.

Standardized tests are a waste of time and money. Have you ever sat in a classroom for hours on end stressed until everyone in the school is done taking a test? If you said yes you have probably taken a standardized test. Students shouldn't have to take standardized tests anymore for the following reasons. Standardized test are very expensive and you would also have to pay for the prep. They are also unreliable and are not a good source for the administration and school. Lastly they cause a ton of stress on students, teachers, and the school.

To many students standardized testing has become another part of schooling that is dreaded. Standardized testing has been a part of school since the nineteen-thirties; in those days it was used as a way to measure students that had special needs. Since the time that standardized test have been in American schools there has been many programs that have placed an importance on the idea of standardized testing such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Evans 1). Over the years the importance of standardized testing has increased tremendously and so has the stakes, not only for teachers but also students. All states in the United States of America have state test in order to measure how much students learn, and help tell how well the

Standardized tests are exams that are supposed to measure a child’s academic knowledge but have long been a controversial subject of discussion. Although it is one method to see how a child is performing, is it the best method? Standardized testing can be biased or unfair, inhibit both the teacher’s and the children’s creativity and flexibility, affect funding for schools, cause untested subjects to be eliminated from the curriculum, and cause anxiety for children and teachers.

Standardized tests are unnecessary because they are excruciating to the minds of many innocent students. Each year, the tests get tougher and stricter until the students cannot process their own thoughts. The tests become torturous to the minds of those only starting in the world of tests. The students already battling in the war are continuing to fall deeper and deeper into the world of uncreativity and narrowness. As the walls narrow in on them, they are lost and unable to become innovative thinkers. Moreover, the implementation of standardized tests into the public school systems of the United States of America has controversially raised two different views –the proponents versus the opponents in the battle of the effectiveness of

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind law in 2002, standardized testing has been at the center of attention in the educational system. Several schools and teachers have been forced to drill children on the information they will be tested on. Teachers are forced to demonstrate other important topics in order to teach test material. Similar to majority of tests provided in the school system, standardized test have both pros and cons. Generally speaking, standardized testing is a great way to determine a baseline for a child. As Miller (2016) indicated, tests have a multitude of benefits, which include student enthusiasm, peer learning, self-improvement and retention, transfer of learning, student self-assessment, and teacher instructional guidance. Teachers are able to use the data from the standardized tests to build an entire academic plan around the results. Additionally, students and parents are able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each child in order to determine the next steps needed to help bridge any gaps within their academic studies.

Standardized testing has become a controversial topic in recent years, parents, students, teachers, principals and almost anyone who has a relationship with education is affected by this topic. People are either for or against standardized testing, some believe it is the only fair way to compare students others believe that the tests are too greatly stressed in school and are a nuisance to education. Standardized tests are stressed greatly, students learn testing material all year not focusing on anything else deemed unimportant by the test makers. Every student has the same amount of time and question on tests; they also are tested on the same subjects which the test makers believe are most important for children to learn. Standardized tests are used for many things such as ranking students on a national basis and government funding for schools.

Some would argue that standardized tests test everybody on the same level and it shows how well the students are taught by the teachers. This is true but not everybody learns on the same level and some don’t take tests very well.

The use of standardized tests is not something new. Everyone should know about their importance and the emphasis put on them, along with the stress that follows. There are multiple choice tests, high-stakes tests, and the dreaded time-limited tests. It is true to say not all tests are created equal; however, every one of these tests has serious flaws. Standardized tests are unfair because they fail to measure students' abilities, they cause an unnecessary amount of stress, and there are too many incentives to teach the test.

Through the creation of the No Child Left Behind initiative in 2001, the government started requiring every state to set content standards for each grade level, as well as develop ways to assess student progress with meeting specified standards (Guide,22). The amount of standardized tests in schools have increased, but not everyone shares the belief that they are effective to students’ overall learning. Therefore, the purpose of this research, is to answer some of the toughest questions regarding standardized testing which include, is standardized testing an effective measurement of student ability? As well as, is standardized testing beneficial to students?

The first reason why standardized testing should not be implemented in the education system is because it limits the students learning capabilities. Standardized testing can not measure creativity, effort, imagination, and many more merit qualities. American schooling has focused on only teaching to the test and emphasizes on three main subjects: math, reading, and science. In addition, teachers put too much urgency on the importance of getting a certain score which diminishes the students interest in learning. Even though, standardized testing gives teachers a direction to

tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same,

Standardized testing entails mostly true/false, fill in the blank, or multiple choice questioning. In 1991, Douglas Archbald stated that with the increase of standardized testing; student achievement and school quality has not visibly increased.  One of the original goals of standardized testing was to increase student and teacher performance, which has not been supported. Standardized testing requires the student to only use lower order thinking such as rote memory and regurgitation of useless facts. The majority of the testing includes memorization of other’s knowledge and does not encourage higher order thinking such as analysis, synthesis, and application of the materials (Archbald, 1991; Capella, 2011; Dennis & O’Haire, 2010; Elliott, 1991). Standardized testing is normative, meaning it compares students to one another. This could lead to a decrease in student self-esteem and teacher morale. In addition, results of standardized testing do not take into account application to real world settings or future careers. Standardized testing does not encourage collaboration, integration of knowledge, or application of said knowledge. The weaknesses of standardized testing lead to a movement to find an alternative; authentic assessment (Archbald, 1991; Dennis & O’Haire, 2010; Elliott,

Nowadays, students across America are subjected to take tests that determine whether they are liable of going to the next level. Standardized tests have become the agenda by which students’ achievements are measured. They have become the only way teachers and schools measure the achievement process of students. Because they have become the only way to rationalize students’ learning progress, teachers have begun teaching to the test (Longo 56). Standardized tests only measure students’ learning progress; it does not improve it.

To begin with standardized testing creates several critical problems for students and for the education industry. These tests are created to test over particular things. In the end these types of tests are only limited in the amount of knowledge that can be tested toward students. For example, “Standardized exams offer few opportunities to display the attributes of high-order thinking, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creativity.” (“Standardized Testing Has Serious Limitations”). Even though these tests are able to attack certain subjects at the core, they still leave out very valuable and critical information that all students should know. In