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Essay on The Case Against Standardized Tests

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Standardized testing assesses students, teachers, and the school itself, which puts a great deal of pressure on the students. High scores show that the school is effective in teaching students, while low test scores make teachers and schools look as though they are not teaching the students properly. This is not always the case. There are teachers who do teach students what they need to know to pass the test, but their students are still unprepared. Although teachers try to improve instruction, student performance is still variable to other factors that the school cannot control.

Standardized tests cover certain material, which gives teachers something specific to teach. This is helpful, in that it allows teachers to know exactly what …show more content…

Some might argue that these activities should come after education, but to many students these activities are as important to their future as their grades.

There are also the students that see their teachers for extra help, but still have problems understanding the subject. These students can seek extra help from a tutor, but because of the cost of tutors many students cannot afford to have a private tutor. When the time to take the test comes these students will find they are ill prepared for the test; and while it is not the teacher or the schools fault this will still reflect badly on them.

Of course, there is still the problem with the test itself. It would seem that because of their structure, that standardized tests make it difficult to prepare students for them. Standardized tests are used to evaluate what a student has learned in the classroom, but knowledge is not the most important aspect of school. Work ethic, attendance, and effort are also important factors in succeeding in the classroom, but these tests do not take these into account (Evans). Standardized tests cannot measure the effort the student put into the answer; they can only measure whether they got the answer right or wrong.

The material the test covers is also a problem. Standardized tests usually cover a broad spectrum of material, and this generally leads to vague study (Worthen). In order to

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