The Ineffectiveness Of Standardized Testing In The United States

Most standardized test do not measure emotional or mechanical intelligence, actually a lot of educators argue that standardized test do not measure comprehension or actual intelligence but rather memorization. While others may believe that standardized testing just needs a few improvements, others believe that it is impossible to have a test that measures accurately the capability of a diverse student population. Today’s schooling depends heavily on the test scores from standardized test. Standardized testing should not have so much weight put on them because they have a negative impact on effective education, students’ self-concept, and learning styles.

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

A never-ending issue has loomed over the head of our nation-- education. According to the Institute of Education Sciences, 63.7% of American students are below proficient in reading and 65.7% in math. In order to improve educational standards and increase student achievement, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) in 2002. Designed to increase the role of the federal government in education, it holds schools accountable based on how students perform on standardized tests. Statistics show that the average student completes about 110-115 mandatory, standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and end of twelfth grade (an average of eight tests per year). Standardized testing utilizes

Standardized testing has been ruling over the lives of students, making or breaking them in their education without fair judgement. Tests like the SAT and the ACT count for way too much when applying to colleges, which in turn limits the student 's capabilities to thrive in an environment that would benefit them. There are many problems within a standardized test that deems them to be unreliable as a true test of knowledge. Although designed to test groups of students on intelligence, standardized testing neglects to fairly acknowledge the abilities of each unique student which reflect their true capabilities.

In America, standardized testing started to show up during the Industrial Revolution when more and more children began attending school rather than working in factories or on family farms. Due to a “back to basics” movement during the 1970s, there was a big emphasis on “low-level functional skills and the proliferation of minimum-competency tests”(Marzano 9). However by the time we get to the 1990s, standardized tests began to be

The use of standardized testing to measure students’ knowledge is an inaccurate reflection of their capabilities. By being forced to take a test that does not effectively show their abilities, students become overstressed, and the tests themselves do not promote true academic achievement. Rather than learning about subjects in order to gain knowledge, students simply memorize facts and formulas to get a decent test score. Standardized tests are not an appropriate measure of student performance, only benefit certain groups of students, and do not prepare students for the real world.

Evaluating individual students through standardized tests is a poor means and should be replaced with performance-based assessments. An average student spends most of their early life inside a classroom, submitting to a sequence of tests and preparation for further exams to finally graduate and continue with further education, constantly struggling and striving for the highest marks. Through a strict series of standardized tests however, students instead form the idea that there is a single answer for all of the problems that face our world.  You are taught not to think logically or creatively at all, but to mindlessly memorize. As a student, you lose interest in the different disciplines you

Living in the United States the emphasis on testing is extremely high. Testing has been around for years , however has increased to an all-time high since 2002 when the Bush administration brought about the No Child Left Behind Act and mandated standardized testing in all 50 states. Since initiation of these annual tests, the degree of student success the US has shown compared to other countries has declined. With the No Child Left Behind Act all students, as in 100% of students, were supposed to be at or above grade level in testing as of 2014. However, the US is two years out and its students are nowhere close to that 100% goal.

Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it’s stupid.” Recently, there has been discussion about whether the method of standardized testing is best for our education system. There are a lot of flaws that come with the system of testing. Opposers argue that with all of the flaws, the testing significantly holds American citizens back from greater potential to success. Standardized testing weakens America’s education system, because it can cause teachers to “teach to the test”, does not truly measure intelligence or abilities, and cannot always reflect what a student has learned.

Many schools statewide are facing the contradictory topic of the exemption of standardized testing amongst their students. This format of assessing with American Education began in the middle 1800’s and grew when the NO Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated testing in the US in 2002. These actions taken were said to mainly have been put in place to keep teachers and schools accountable for the assurance of those paying taxes and what government money is being spent on. Despite these comments, the vast majority of people would say that the proficiency level aligned with the state’s reading and math, find it to be an impossible goal to aim for. And throughout the course of time, multiple days in the school year have been eradicated with test

Standardized testing is a form of test that’s commonly used in today’s world, especially in here the United States. These tests check what your teacher taught students over the years they are in school, and the tests used constantly to assess our schools here in the United States. Aside from being used to evaluate the schools, colleges check the scores students receive to see if they would be willing to accept them. With how important these standardized tests have become, most states now require students to take them. The states have become dictatorial in determining what needs to be learned and what can be pushed over to the side to ensure that schools meet the benchmarks the states have made. These tests affect schools and education negatively and they completely eradicate the meaning of teaching.

Science, Social Studies, and History are merely overpassed, while subjects like Mathematics and Language Arts are highly emphasized far beyond real world relevance. Standardized tests also disregard masses of other elective classes such as areas of business, art, music and engineering. Limiting students with such a small amount of subject content restricts their ability to demonstrate their main strengths, especially if they aren’t included or limited to Language Arts and Mathematics. If a student is passionate about a certain subject, it would be nowhere to be found within the test’s restrictions. These exams also limit a student’s capability to exhibit components of higher order thinking.

The brilliant Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”. Personally, I think that this quote is a perfect example of how useless standardized tests are. School systems in the U.S. swear by these tests. The people supporting and making the tests seem to never think about the fact that some kids have test anxiety. Even for kids who are good testers, these can not possibly accurately test their abilities. Not to mention that the idea of evaluation teachers by these tests is absolutely ridiculous.

The way students learn around the country is being tailored to accommodate for the use of standardized tests and this started with President George W. Bush signing the law, No Child Left Behind. “No Child Left Behind Act which was initiated in 2002 ushered in the current era of high-stakes testing.” (NCLBA). “This law required states to administer math and reading tests every year to students from third to eighth grade and imposed increasingly harsh punishments on schools that failed to make “adequate yearly progress” on these tests.” (Mulholland). Without question, the use of standardized testing hurts the curriculum taught in school because students are now being taught to take a test versus capitalizing on their various unique genius and

Standardized testing is a collectively accepted aspect of education today, it is used to evaluate if students of all ages are being shaped and educated up to the common standard set by the government. Standardized testing can be seen in almost all educational settings from kindergarten classes to exit exams for nurse practioners. Standardized testing came into play when former President George Bush ran his campaign on being the education president and enacted the No Child Left behind Act. Under this act all educational districts are subject to standards and core values they must meet to receive accreditation and funding from the government. Just the other day many students at Moorcroft high school student had to take a