Standardized Testing Pros And Cons

Standardized testing has been around since the early 1900’s. Today, it determines a high school student’s future. Every year juniors in high school start to prepare months in advance for the SAT’s and ACT’s. Along with the test itself, comes stress that is not necessary. The debate of standardized tests defining a student’s academic ability or not has become a recent popular controversial topic. Many colleges and universities are starting to have test optional applications because they are realizing that a single test score does not demonstrate the knowledge of a student. There is more value in a student that should rule an acceptance or rejection. In the article, “SAT Scores Help Colleges Make Better Decisions” Capterton states, “The SAT has proven to be valid, fair, and a reliable data tool for college admission” (Capterton). Capterton, president of the College Board, believes that the SAT’s and ACT’s should be used to determine a student’s acceptance because it is an accurate measure. What Capterton and deans of admissions of colleges and universities don’t know is the abundant amount of resources upper class families have for preparation, the creative talents a student has outside of taking tests, and the amount of stress they put on a 17 year old.

Since Middle School, I was not opposed to standardized testing. I thought of it as a way of testing us of what we have learned. Although, after reading some articles about standardized testing I am re-thinking the pros and cons. From personal experience, I thought of it as a challenge to pass them. But now that reminisce about it, I noticed some of the cons of standardized testing. I remember having a week or two dedicated for testing, and in case of students failing they had to take time to redo it. It would take a while for all the students to finish their tests. And after remembering how it was back in those times I was more on the opposed side.

One of the main reasons colleges use a student’s standardized test scores is to determine how ready they are for college and how they will perform in their freshman year (“Do Standardized Test” par 10). However, in reality these standardized tests do not properly predict a student’s first year college performance. Throughout the years, multiple studies have shown that a student’s GPA is a much more accurate representation of their future performance in college than their standardized test results. One of these studies for example, states that “The ACT regularly underestimates the abilities of females, who earn higher grades than males in college, despite lower ACT scores.” (“The ACT: Biased” par 10)

Einstein once said, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Likewise, if a poor test-taker is judged by their SAT score, they could be forced to attend an inadequate institute of higher education. For decades, the SAT has been “the test” that makes or breaks a student's chances of getting into their top college. Generally, the privileged populace do well, but minorities and women do not come out as strong and are therefore limited to college choice. The SAT has proven to be an unsuitable, biased method for predicting success of students in college.

If this is true and GPA and school activity involvement are more important, then why is the SAT even considered? Brandon Busteed, an executive director of Gallup Education, ran a study including 2,586 superintendents around his area. According to his results, “...Only six percent of superintendents strongly agree that SAT and ACT scores are the best predictors of college success” (Brandon Busteed).  This shows that even educators feel that the SAT lacks a true purpose. How can any college determine a student's study habits, work ethic, or community involvement through a number? Jennifer Finney Boylan, a professor at Colby College, states, “The only way to measure students’ potential is to look at the complex portrait of their lives; what their schools are like; how they’ve done in their courses; what they’ve chosen to study; what progress they’ve made over time; how they’ve reacted to adversity” (Hambrick & Chabris). Although other factors are not ignored, including involvement and high school GPA, there is still immense pressure to do well on the SATs. Busteed states, “We’re not just overinvesting in standardized testing, we’re actually testing standardization. That is to say, most standardized tests are designed to have students come up with the same answers. We’re teaching them how to be similar, not different” (2015). This shows the negative effects that the SAT has on

I think the schools is putting to much emphasis on the Standardized Test. I think the government is trying to make the standardized test hard and hard each year I think the government wanna make the students in the school's fail there test's. Because it's no point they making the test hard and hard for the students to pass I think they should be making the test easier for the students to pass and get out of the school early so they don't have to worry about school no more. I think the parents of the kids that fail the Standardized test should have a protest go up to Washington D.C go to the white house and stand by the gates and protest. The government would listen to the kids that's not a factor to them government only care about the money

High schools require their students to take college entrance exams such as the ACT or the SAT, and “one goal of these policies [is] to increase college enrollment based on the belief that requiring students to take these exams would make students more likely to consider college as a viable option” (Klasik). Based on their ACT or SAT score students can be offered scholarships from colleges around the nation, which could hopefully be a way to motivate students to do well on these standardized test. However, “college entrance exams such as the ACT or SAT are required or recommended for admission to nearly all of the nations 4-year colleges and universities and are likewise used in the admissions process at many 2-year colleges” (Klasik). So, high schools that require their students to take the ACT or SAT are doing their students a huge favor by helping the gain more college options and opportunities for scholarships. There are several questions college think about before accepting students into their school. One of those questions being “how can we identify the students most likely to succeed” (Moore 106)? Colleges look at incoming students current GPA, class rank, and testing scores, which both provide insight as to how the student may perform academically. According to a study on “…how students’ ACT Aptitude Ratings [AAR] are associated with their subsequent

The issue of whether students should take standardized tests in order to get selected by top tier colleges has been a heated debate for quite some time now. In this essay, I will be examining whether standardized testing is a fair assessment of one's overall knowledge or achievement in one's educational career, and whether it has grounds to determine whether a person is qualified for higher educational opportunities. The SAT and ACT are two of the most known standardized tests which are used to measure and assess how well a student will do in his or her college life, however, these tests do not seem to be good determinants for one's academic intelligence and actually deter students from proper learning in the classroom by promoting a narrow

The domain of study I chose to research was how high school students feel about having to take standardized aptitude and achievement tests, specifically the ACT exam. My problem statement is ‘do high school students believe that the ACT is an effective indicator of their capacities to learn?’ I chose focus on the ACT exam because it’s what a majority of students in the Midwest region have to take in order to get into college. The discussion of the validity of standardized tests has caught my attention in recent years being a predominant figure in the news and on social media sites. Consequently, our most recent discussion question for Module 4 had me contemplating the key issues associated with the use of achievement tests

Today, colleges are relying more and more on standardized test scores. Schools are using SAT and ACT scores to create a fast and easy way to choose those applicants.

Without standardized testing there would be less consistency when assessing students’ knowledge and intelligence. This is because different teachers may grade more harshly and some may be more lenient. This can greatly affect a student’s admission process because when an admissions committee is comparing two students’ grades and GPA they are unaware of how easy or hard the students’ teachers were. When they compare two students’ ACT or SAT scores, however, they know that the test was equally difficult and there is no question of

Andrew Shue once said, “Life is the most exciting opportunity we have. But we have one shot. one graduate from college once, and that 's it. one 're going out of that nest.” Majority of students want to attend college but are hesitant. How can they get graduate from college that one time if they are never given the opportunity. Prohibited, whether because of grades or the cost, they still have an obstacle that stops them from attending. Some feel that students were not able to attend college because of ACT and SAT scores. Colleges are considering changing the college admission requirement. This means not looking at standardized test scores. Studies show that the test is biased towards a specific demographic group and race. Requirements for college admission should be used fair to everyone and at the same level of education. Although the ACT and SAT have been used to determine if majority of students get accepted into college, but because it shows that test are bias towards a certain demographic group it’s being considered that they should be discontinued.

Thank you for your feedback. Like you explained, standardized tests can be a problem. A problem can become a controversy when there are two different edges or points of views of the same problem or situation. In my case I selected standardized tests as a controversy where this type of test can be beneficial for students, instructors, and institutions or can be a total disaster for students, instructors, and institutions. For example: Like I said in my post, standardized exams can help instructors and guide them about the most important topics to prepare students for these types of exams or can affect the students preparation because some instructors focus only on the important topics to prepare students for these tests; neglecting

Standardized test scores in college admissions process do not accurately represent my academic potential. Throughout my life as a student in the Sutton public school system, conceding to defeat has never been an option. While intelligence can give students a head start over others, this is where it ends. In the long run those getting the results they desire will ultimately be those who will accept little less than perfect, like me. Even though the education system prepares the average student to take a standardized test, I was still uncomfortable when taking it. I conclude that when assessing a student for academic excellence four years should not be hidden due to a mediocre test grade taken in less than a day. Core subjects can represent

FairTest talks about how schools use standardized testing the wrong way and are causing many negative impacts. It causes the curriculum to narrow as well as make teachers teach to the test which thus drives them out of their profession. The stress on schools and teachers to raise the average grade is increasing. Because these tests don’t accurately take into account any other things but that one test, it is causing students to lower self esteem due to lower grades and therefore, dropping out. I plan on using this source to support why standardized testing should be reduced by mentioning how it affects how students are taken into account.