Standardized Testing System

Standardized testing is not an effective way to test the skills and abilities of today’s students. Standardized tests do not reveal what a student actually understands and learns, but instead only prove how well a student can do on a generic test. Schools have an obligation to prepare students for life, and with the power standardized tests have today, students are being cheated out of a proper, valuable education and forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure to succeed are being devoted to standardized tests. Standardized testing, as it is being used presently, is a flawed way of testing the skills of today’s students.

Standardized testing has not helped student achievement in America (Is the use of standardized test improving education in America? 1). Ever since students have started using standardized testing, America has fell in many areas of academics. One area is math where America used to be eighteenth in the world is now thirty-first (Is the use of standardized test improving education in America? 1). This proves that testing has not helped America improve in academic achievement, but has actually made a decline.

“ I want my kids classrooms back” says many parents (Deutermann). School standardized testing is taking up so much time it is taking time away from students learning time in the classroom. Taking the many portions of standardized test is not benefiting the students. The point of standardized tests in schools to get measure of a student’s knowledge. Education plays a big role in the assessments. Education is the process of gaining knowledge, or different skills and attitudes. The tests are also a way to determine a teacher 's work ability. This topic is relevant to us because we are the ones that are taking the assessments, and teachers are the ones that have to help prepare the students for the standardized test.

“Race to the bottom,” the phrase coined for tax breaks and less governmental restrictions, may have a new meaning. Race to the bottom, our new educational initiative. US education levels are dropping and standardized testing is the root cause of such harm. Standardized testing needs to be just another tool in the toolbox, rather than a wonder product. Nelson Mendela said “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” and if that weapon happens to be broken we might as well be Tony Stark without his suit, Lady Justice without her scale, a white girl without her phone, powerless.

Standardized testing has been a large part of school systems across America; nearly every school has state and national required tests for all of the students. The results from these standardized tests are meant to be based on the curriculum the students should be learning in the classroom. Standardized testing became common when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or better known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), was passed in 2002. Ever since the act was passed, there have been two major viewpoints on it; some view standardized tests as an asset, while others do not.

There has been a lot of talk about standards for schools. Politicians have made this issue a campaign debate. Now everyone has jumped on the “bandwagon” and wants accountability of students’ education (Shafer, 2002). When there is a problem in the education system, teachers are the first to be blamed. They are left with the responsibility of proving they are teaching what needs to be taught. States as well as the federal government use standardized testing to assess learning. They want someone to be held responsible for students’ learning. The problem lies when the teacher and student suffer from the results of standardized testing. “The pressure on educators and

Standardized testing has been used in the United States for years while its role in education has expanded by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Standardized testing was created to promote equality within the education system; to treat and teach all student the same. The use of this test was also meant to measure the students’ progress in math and reading, as well as to determine a student promotion to the next grade; but at what cost? Preparation for standardized tests is almost twenty-four-seven, every year from third grade to eighth grade. Preparation that takes up valuable learning time in school. Preparation that is a waste to the students’ future in college and life beyond school. Standardized testing seem to demand so much from schools; not to mention its impending threat on schools to label them with bad reputations or closing them down. With such a threat breathing down the necks of the schools encouragement to cut quality education to meet the standards to ‘survive’ is tempting. Teachers would teach primary to the favor of the test and, if given the opportunity, schools would scandalously claim and put their low-scoring students in special education programs to exempt them from taking the test. Standardized testing is damaging our biggest number one priority; which is our education, an important factor that strongly impacts the children of our future!

The original form of standardized testing had a fine proposal for accountability and quality control, but constant legislation change make it difficult for teachers to redesign and modify lesson plans to align with federal and state guidelines. Which have confused and disorganized the system, as well as the massive population increase and sizeable amount of academic and environmental variables.

Standardized testing, “an examination that's administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, “Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality“), has been around since approximately a century ago and is deemed as the ideal ‘calculator’ to determine the strengths and weaknesses in the education system in the United States of America. Although it is heavily flawed, the United States will not revoke this process or alter it because it has been deemed as a ‘set’ method in determining the level of education America has achieved. The method of standardized testing is problematic because it does not accurately measure

The United States education system has been using standardized testing since the 1800’s. Since the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 mandated annual testing in all 50 states their use has escalated tremendously. Since 2002 America has dropped from 18th to 31st in mathematics and science while reading has not improved either (ProCon). The failure of the education system has been blamed on various outlooks. There may be many factors, but standardized testing has not shown a substantial positive effect. In fact, it has hurt our students, teachers and the education system as a whole. Although some say that it holds valuable information, the negatives severely outweigh the positives in standardized testing.

Since the beginning of public schools in the mid 1800s standardize test has changed education. Standardize test is the most common form of testing in the world. The main purpose of standardized tests in schools is to give educators an objective, unbiased perspective of how effective their instruction is.(put your source) Unfortunately standardize testing is not used the same way it was intended to be used in the 1800s. In the 1800s with students migrating from farms and factories because of the industrial revolution, people needed a way to evaluate students for they can be placed in proper classes. Now a days school systems greatly rely on these test and these test have become way more important

The tests require children to draw from knowledge they learn or experiences they’ve had outside of school, which is different for each student. According to W. James Popham, an expert on educational assessment, “If children come from advantaged families and stimulus-rich environments, then they are more apt to succeed on items in standardized achievement test items than will other children whose environments don't mesh as well with what the tests measure”. The biases in the development and administration of standardized tests often contribute to the achievement gap between whites and minorities. As a result students from low-income and minority families, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities are more likely to be held back a grade, be placed in unnecessary remedial education programs, and be denied a diploma (Reese, pg. 1). Another problem with standardized testing is the tests do not accurately measure teacher quality. Standardized tests are often used to evaluate teachers and schools staff based on their student’s scores. However, standardized tests are limited indicators of student knowledge and progress; therefore they do not reflect the wide range of knowledge and skills a teacher covers in the classroom. It is unfair to isolate the impact of one individual because teaching is a collaborative and developmental process (FairTest, pg. 1). People think that if standardized test scores are high they can label teachers as

Now we’re moving to the pros and more of the benefits of standardized testing. Both Mrs. Hoffman and Mrs. Lowrey believe that standardized testing gives teachers a goal outside of what is done in the classroom and also presents teachers with data that helps them know what they need to teach and what students need to learn. “Standardized testing gives teachers an idea of what level students are at academically and what they need to work on,” Mrs. Hoffman said. She also says that standardized testing is necessary because it gives a comparison of schools on the progress happening inside of them. She finds standardized testing results to be helpful in the classroom because she uses the scores for partner work. Mrs. Hoffman mixes those with high scores with those with low scores, or high scores with high scores, so they can help each other out. When we asked Mrs. Hoffman who benefitted more from standardized tests, students or teachers, she replied that teachers definitely benefit more than students because teachers use the scores to look at what level the students are at, when students can take a test and not care what happens after they get the results back. For Mrs. Lowrey, she believes that the pros of standardized testing include: It informs teachers of students’ capabilities and understanding of content. She restates

Our current president once highlighted my primary issue with standard testing, stating, "Too often what we have been doing is using these tests to punish students or to, in some cases, punish schools” in a fireside-esque chat in 2011 (citation). I feel that standardized testing is a good metric to see both student progress, and feel that it should be used as a teaching tool to help teachers guide students to gather the essential knowledge that they might miss between classes each year, or have forget in the long summer months between classes. I also feel that the pressure put on students to perform well, and the resulting pressure put on teachers to have their students perform well on the tests for funding hinders progress that could be made

Aftermath results of the test are not being used for the betterment of the student’s education instead this only serves as an “achievement” of the school. Standardized exam do not measure the ability of the students to think deeply but rather enhances their memorization skills. This only encourage a narrow minded curriculum and antiquated methods of instruction. Just because the scores are high doesn’t mean the school’s performance is effective. In other words educational attainment is being measured in a wrong