Standardized Testing Trends

With the added pressure to do well in school, standardized testing becomes a means to added stress, anxiety and further complicates the pressure to succeed in a student’s life. Rather than a focus on learning and understanding, school has become a massive rope skill memorization test designed to have students memorize subjects to pass the test, and forget the material the next minute for the next test. When asked to speak about standardized testing, education chairman, Larry Taylor, said “It’s heart-wrenching, and it’s also insanity when you see the level of achievement these kids are already doing and yet they can’t even pass this test.” (Smith). The utilization of standardized testing further exemplifies and validates the idea that no matter how hard or long you work in school, your work will never be worth the few answers you write for the

Currently, standardized tests do not improve the education of students in America. Standardized testing is not an accurate measure of student’s knowledge because they are designed to test an extremely broad amount of students who do not have the same educational background. This makes it incredibly difficult to test students across the world on the same level and expect their scores to reflect their education. Standardized testing, by definition, is any test containing the same questions that is administered to a vast group of people for the purpose of comparing different student’s test scores. This issue is important because it affects the entire academic community, positively and negatively. Therefore, all teachers, students, school staff, and test administrators have some involvement with standardized testing. The vast majority of people in America have taken a standardized test sometime in their life, which makes these tests vital in the

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

“…only twenty-two percent of those surveyed said increased testing had helped the performance of their local schools compared with twenty-eight in 2007” (“Public Skeptical of Standardized Testing.”). Furthermore the poll indicated an eleven percent increase, compared to last year, towards the favor of discontinuing the usage of students’ test results for teacher evaluations. William Bushaw, executive director of PDK International and co-director of PDK/Gallup Poll also stated, “Americans’ mistrust of standardized tests and their lack of confidence and understanding around new education standards is one the most surprising developments we’ve found in years” (“Public Skeptical of Standardized Testing.”). All in all, not only are these tests a concern for students, who are forced to sit through them, hoping to get a decent enough score to place into a class, receive their diploma, or even get accepted to the college of their dreams, but they are a concern for parents as well, who only want the best for their children and to see them succeed.

State-mandated standardized testing has lately become a monster to be feared by students from the beginning of their school career. According to well respected educational author Alfie Kohn, “[…] Most of today’s discourse about education has been reduced to a crude series of monosyllables: Test scores are too low. Make them go up” (Kohn 1). Why all the testing? Some is to meet the federal government requirements, some to meet state requirements, some for the district and some for the school, and still more tests are given simply to help students prepare for the ones already mentioned. So much testing has reduced time for instructors to actually teach. In addition, many of the tests neglect to cover all important material,

What once began as a simple test administered to students yearly to measure understanding of a particular subject has, as Kohn (2000) has stated, “Mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole” (p.1). Today’s students are tested to an extent that is unparalleled in not only the history of our schools, but to the rest of the world as well. Step into any public school classroom across the United States and it will seem as if standardized testing has taken over the curriculum. Day after day teachers stress the importance of being prepared for the upcoming test. Schools spend millions of dollars purchasing the best test preparation materials, sometimes comes at the cost of other important material. Although test

Standardized tests are bad for teachers and students alike, and affect many aspects of their lives negatively. For example, many teachers’ jobs can depend on their student’s scores on a standardized test, and so they “teach to the test” rather than ensuring that their students have a good understanding of the entire topic. The tests fail to measure student’s overall growth, and only determine each student’s proficiency at the time of testing. The large amount of stress that is placed on students and teachers by these tests negatively affects their mental and emotional health. Finally, standardized tests create disadvantages to those who do poorly on them, and these disadvantages can affect the rest of their futures.

Standardized testing has been around for a long time and recently, these tests are on the rise. One of the main reasons why standardized testing has become so popular is because these tests provide a fair chance to all individuals. These tests assess students based on a set of consistent questions that feature “multiple-choice or open-ended questions” pulled from similar content areas (Concordia Online Education, 2016, p. 1). Therefore, standardized tests are not biased and are objective in nature. Not only are the questions consistent, but educators have no influence whatsoever when it comes to standardized tests.

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!

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.

For years children in our education system have been pressured to fit into the standard of standardized tests. The reality of the tests are that everyone is given the same “standard” test and then it is graded in a predetermined standard manner. Standardized tests have made life easier for educators but the students are suffering. There are many loop holes in this type of testing causing whats known as a fair test to be extremely unfair. Standardized testing creates a system that undermines success and a culture of “teaching to the test.”

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.