Standardized Testing: Necessary Or Ineffective?

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

Today, it can be observed that society has shifted education drastically from the time schools were constituted, to now. Throughout history, schools have gone from private, where only the elite can attend, to public schools where virtually anyone can attend. One of the factors that goes along with education is standardized testing. Frederick J. Kelly, father of the standardized test, once said, “These tests are too crude to be used, and should be abandoned.” Not only has this shift occurred within education itself, but it has occurred within the testing concepts found within standardized testing so much so that the founder of these tests has chosen to give up on it.

Standardized testing has become a yearly fixture in classrooms around the United States. Legislation such as No Child Left Behind holds educators and administrators responsible for the learning of students. One way to assess this learning is through the use of a standardized test, the results of which can be compared to a predetermined benchmark. I believe it’s a good idea to hold educators accountable for the work they perform in the classroom and to hold school administrators accountable for education outcomes. However, the means by which this accountability is currently being evaluated—standardized testing—is detrimental to both schools and students alike, and it should be discontinued. Standardized testing of young children produces potentially meaningless results, is potentially discriminatory against certain populations, and forces educators to modify their instruction (potentially for the worse) in an effort to avoid being punished for not meeting required benchmarks.

Believe it or not, standardized test are not meant to torture you. Physicians, lawyers, real-estate brokers, doctors, and pilots all take high-stakes standardized tests to ensure they have the necessary intelligence for their careers. Also, Standardized tests hold teachers and schools accountable for actually teaching the students and if they teach them well. It also gives the teachers a guide on what to teach the students. The results that are sent home give the parent a good idea of how well their child is doing in class and on tests.

Almost everyone in the U.S. recognizes that standardized testing is a central part of the education system in our country. What many people don’t know though is the history of where it came from. Beginning in the mid-1800s prestigious universities decided they wanted to give more students across the country a better chance at going into higher education, but at the time there wasn’t a way to measure the capabilities of students in both high class and low class families. This is how standardized testing came into play. If a student could do well on these tests regardless of their financial position than their scores would hopefully speak for themselves. Although, now standardized testing

Exams are like your girlfriend. They ask way too many questions, they are difficult to understand, there is always more explanation needed, and of course the result is you always fail. I like to think this accurately describes how most people feel about standardized tests, but then again, I don't really think people ever feel fondly about a standardized tests. Now we have taken standardized test since elementary school so why do we all still suck at them? Let’s face it America has a pretty bad average on test taking skills. Maybe it's because of the fact that up until you’re a junior in high school none of those other standardized test matter. Those tests are basically just an excuse for you not to have to go through your normal boring school

Students spend hours cramming for the SAT and ACT each year in the hopes of earning an acceptance letter to a competitive college. But is the tide turning away from standardized exams?

Ever since then standardized testing has been a huge part of education. Teachers across the nation had to teach to the curriculum instead of what they thought the students needed to learn. Nowadays colleges strictly look at ACT and SAT scores rather than classroom grades, because they believe that some teachers grade on a curve and are not giving the students a fair chance. Standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance. A 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-over-year tests core improvements were temporary and “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning…”(“Standardized Tests”). Teachers are stressed over if they are teaching “correctly”. They went to a 4-year college, some even more, to get a degree in something that they wanted to do, either for themselves or for the children, and now they have to “teach to the test”. Tests can only measure a portion of the goals of education. A pschometrician, Daniel Koretz says, “standardized tests usually do not provide a direct and complete measure of educational achievement.”(Harris, Harris, and Smith).

In the United States, standardized testing is used to measure how knowledgeable or unknowledgeable a person is in a particular subject. Standardized tests are exams designed to measure a student’s scholastic performance. These tests are a controversial issue, because some people feel the test do not show the students’ intelligence. I am one of these people. What the test may cover may not be what the students have learned in class. However, some critics feel “that standardized tests allow administrators, teachers, and parents the opportunity to view solid evidence of the students’ performance, which in turn could lead to curriculum changes” (Banta, p.1). Standardized tests also create unnecessary stress for students. These tests require

To test or not to test, this is currently a subject of an intense debate amongst parents, educators, and administrators in the domain of education. Unfortunately, providing teachers in the K-12 system the freedom to teach for the simplistic joy of teaching, does not typically hold educators accountable. Standardized testing is one of the necessary evils when it comes to the measurement of student achievement. While there are arguments on both sides of the subject concerning high stakes testing, there must be at least a designated method of standardized assessments in order to ensure students are prepared for their future, increase parents or guardian of their child’s academic measurements, and increase teacher accountability with respect to

This research examines the perceptions of standardized test administered in America’s public schools. Stiggins states that “these once-a-year tests are not likely to be of much value to classroom teachers as you plan and carry out day-to-day instruction. They are assessments of learning that are too infrequent, broad in focus, and slow in returning results to inform the ongoing array of daily decisions. But this does not mean that these tests are without purpose or value. They

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 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.

Throughout the last century, American education has used standardized testing to assess the aptitudes and achievement of our students. These tests have been used to make informed decisions about curriculum and

“STOP, put your pencil down and close your test booklet.”... words that are familiar to all students which have taken standardized tests. Public school students will take an average of 112 mandated standardized tests between pre-K and 12th grade. The number of standardized exams has escalated over the last decade, spurring many to question the effectiveness (Layton 1). Supporters of standardized testing recognize three main goals: measurement of student achievement, teacher and school accountability and consistency, but are these goal being accomplished. Research suggests that the goals of standardized test are not being met due to fundamental flaws which cause teachers to “teach” to the test. This will eliminate building of advanced curriculum by destroying innovation and creativity that foster a love for learning and teaching. Students have lost their ability to think critically and apply their learning ( Room 241 Team 5).