Standardized Testing Vs Education

Ever since standardized testing started being used as a way to evaluate the intelligence of students and the teachers’ ability to educate, the standard of actual education has been diminished immensely. Standardized testing is used in most public and private schools to analyze students’ knowledge. It has affected the way in which students learn and has corrupted the methods teachers use to educate. In some cases, English-Learning and disabled students face discrimination from teachers since teachers have more responsibility to have a high number of passing students. Some countries around the world don’t use standardized tests to rank their students or schools and yet they have been successful. Standardized tests are not efficient on making students learn, they should not be used to evaluate students’ knowledge.

According to James, standardized testing falsely defines education. James believes that standardized testing teaches children to practice and perform, rather than helping children develop a sense of curiosity. Standardized testing causes the school to become a drudgery for children. Teachers do not teach a subject, but instead, they pump them with test taking strategies. Students are not given the opportunity to use their imagination to be curious or to become engaged in a subject. Instead, they are learning that school is about mastering test taking skills.

The use of standardized testing is on the rise, with the intent of comparing the knowledge levels of large amounts of students. But is it a true and fair indicator of students overall knowledge?some may argue that it is the least expensive and most convenient way to compare mass amounts of students b having everyone test on the same data at the same time and under the same circumstances. Many believe that students learn and even test take at varying levels and performance is not consistent on any given day. Meaning ,students may have the exact same knowledge base, but some students simply are better at test taking, whereas others do not perform well under pressure and this may potentially affect the test results.

It's 8 A.M. on a Saturday, and masses of students around the United States wake up and head to their testing sites in order to take the SAT. This is a common occurrence that happens multiple times a year, but it raises the question as to how seriously should society take these tests and other standardized testing, such as the Regents examinations in New York State. The answer to this is obvious, clearly these exams, and all standardized tests, must be taken seriously, due to the fact they provide vital information for colleges such as which students are the best, they provide ample data for high schools and state governments to prove that the academic standards are being upheld, and they also provide useful information to various institutions

A standardized test refers simply to any test that is being given in the same manner to all test takers. This same manner implies same questions, same timing, and same conditions of testing. The history of standardized testing dates for more than 14 centuries now. First standardized tests are claimed to be used for imperial examinations in China around the 7th century. However, It’s not until the 19th century that this testing methodology was first introduced to Europe and then to the rest of the world. In fact, even in the United States of America standardized tests were not included in the core of the educational system until the end of the First World War. Since then, a rising criticism and call against standardized testing has being rising and had its peak with the President Bush’s signature of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001.The standardized testing debate has rapidly spread from the US to the rest of the world, turning it from an old Chinese military testing system to one of the most important controversial topics in the world of education.

Standardized testing has been around for centuries. It has been a part of America’s education since mid 1800’s. Ever since the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, tests are now required and mandated in every state. But has their use improved America’s education?

How I feel about standardized tests is that they get me really stressed out and they are scary. I believe i'm a a bad test taker because when someone hands me a test I forget everything I learned over the year and just freak out and stare at the paper. Yes, I believe ever since Kindergarten iv'e been like this. Fun fact is that when I was taking my STAR test in second grade I peed myself thinking I was going to fail but it was a practice STAR test, I was bullied ever since. I prepare for a standardized test by going over what I learned at midnight, that way I don't freak out and stress or sometimes eating makes me feel more confident about myself. I believe that when they give you gum before taking the test helps, because it distracts you of

Standardized Testing is one of the many issues currently plaguing the education community. Testing is a very touchy and controversial topic in the politics of education, particularly in the United States. There are many varying opinions debating on the successes and failures in the process of testing today. The controversies over standardized testing in the United State, and specifically New Jersey, stem from the testing process and the creation of these tests. Some claim that standardized tests are culturally biased, which is a disadvantage to minority students. These tests also are very costly, and affect the education budget. The tests also pose a large time commitment, with preparation for the tests, as well as the time allotted to take the tests themselves. Preparations for the tests can also have issues, with some educators teaching toward the test, to ensure a higher success rate for the students. The grading and processing of these tests also comes into question, because the tests might not be an accurate measure of student achievement. Standardized testing is a very controversial topic because of the extremely high stakes. The successes or failures of students on these tests affect the students and the schools. With the new obsession with high performance rates, standardized testing has become more high stakes.

Standardized testing has lowered student achievement in the past several years. “The US has slipped from 18th in the world in math in 2002, to 31st place in 2009” (Walker). Something needs to be done, because a good education is how Americans succeed. American children are losing a battle with education because of these high stakes testing. The original purpose of the tests is “to ensure that all children have a fair and equal opportunity to obtain high-quality education at minimum proficiency on State standards” (“Title I - Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged”). But, the test anxiety is becoming more prevalent, and is keeping students from performing their best (Kohn).

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

For many years now, standardized tests are used in most schools and institutions. The assessments are a way to measure the student’s intellect and prepare students for the real world. The standardized tests are timed and each student is given the chance to answer the multiple choice questions, true or false, or fill in the blank to the best of their ability. The evaluation measures the beginner performance and prepare them for college. Most of these exams are important for graduate or undergraduate programs. Most of the schools around the world have standardized testing in their class to grade the student. Some schools do not use computerizing scoring because they want to remove any bias that is happening. The students strive their best to

Standardized tests within today’s American Education have become a policy, creating vast and long tests to comprehend each student's knowledge over their years of education within American society. While there are positive and negative effects of using these standardized tests to assess students’ needed fundamentals of education in terms of standards, the validity of these tests always come into question, considering that so many high school graduates are applying for college. This calls into question whether we should keep using these tests, or abandon them all together. It makes one beg the question: To what extent are the criterion of standardized tests valid in predicting collegiate educational success? Due to the inefficiencies of standardized

The purpose of education has shifted from learning & gaining knowledge to see how well students can show patience, obedience, and willingness to work, so that colleges can pick out people that are going to work hard (Brabeck).We memorize, study for the test and forget it and repeat the cycle all over again. That’s why when young children ask adults or parents for help with their homework, they struggle to help because they can’t remember it. Also if the purpose of school was to learn, than why do they make us do standardized testing ? Standardized testing is not used in any way to see how much we’ve learned, but rather how much we can memorize/remember. Which is creating a conformity within our learning, and destroying creativity (Brabeck).

From first grade to college, every student faces the nightmare: a test. The groans, rolled-back eyes and anxiety are all symptoms of a test-stressed generation. However, high school students are impacted the most because colleges do not look at test scores comprehensively. They only look at the high scores and ignore the low scores. Ever since the College Board was created in 1899, colleges have used the Board’s number one test to assess a high school student’s abilities. The colleges are only concerned with their reputation, not about the quality of a student’s academic strength.

“Standardized testing has swelled and mutated…to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole” (Kohn, 2000). Comparing standardized testing to a swelling monster that is taking over the school systems is a bit of a reach but there is some weight to this statement. Standardized tests have become so frequent in elementary and high school education that they have become the most important tool that is used by school boards and colleges to determine a student’s achievements, but how accurate and reliable are these tests at showing all of these achievements? The answer? Not very accurate. Standardized testing, at both the elementary and secondary scchool levels, are not effective at accurately showing a student’s achievements.