The Negative Effects Of Standardized Testing

After the No-Child-Left-Behind (NCLB) bill was introduced by the Bush administration in 2001, the use of standardized tests skyrocketed because all schools in the country were required to assess students using these tests to evaluate the student, teacher and school’s performance. A standardized test is any examination that is administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner (Popham 8). The use of these tests have not improved education in the United States because teachers teach to the test, which means that they only focus on what is going to be on the exam and do not spend time on other material; tests like the SAT which evaluate the student solely on the outcome of the test and upon the score the student is placed where “appropriate”; and that one assessment is not enough to evaluate students, teachers, principals

Texas takes the STAAR, Alabama the ARMT, and Hawaii the HSA. Each state in the U.S. has a standardized test required of every student. From the ACT and SAT to the STAAR tests, standardized testing has become common practice for almost every student. The earliest records of standardized testing are when in China, anyone wanting to get a job in government had to fill out their knowledge of Confucian philosophy and poetry in examination. As more and more kids began to go to school during the Industrial Revolution, standardized testing spread as a way to quickly and easily test a large number of students. But not everyone agrees with the tests, stating that they are unreliable, and that the stakes are too high. Standardized tests cause immense amount of stress for not only students, but teachers as well. And the tests might not even be effective, causing more anxiety than it's worth.

When people think of the education system, most can say that there are some problems, though they might not be able to pinpoint what needs to change first. If you ask most teachers, they will say that the first thing that needs to be changed in the schooling system to help the students more is the standardized testing. They will say that while it can be helpful it has a lot of faults and needs to be updated or changed to help its students. Standardized testing has often been a topic for discussion, between parents and people in the schooling system. It seems that a lot of people either hate standardized testing for not giving every child a chance to succeed, or love it for being a fair way to test whether a child knows what they need to know at their age. There have been many articles, books, and documentary’s debating on whether or not standardized testing is doing more harm then good. There was a comic made that shows the brutality and bluntness of what standardized testing is really like. Standardized Testing causes too much stress by putting unfair expectations on teens and doesn’t give every single student the chance to succeed.

Throughout high school and college we will go through a vast amount of testing but why? Testing is used to show a person’s amount of knowledge on a particular subject. Usually it’s for one specific subject and not a majority of them, standardized tests administered in schools today include all testable subjects as in English, Math, Science, Writing, and Reading. However, before we can all take the next step and begin our college careers, we have to take one of two tests, the ACT or the SAT. These two exams demine the college you get into, the amount of scholarships you will receive, and even whether or not your will be accepted into said college, all determined by the score you receive.

Growing up in Chesapeake every student is forced to take a standardized test at the end of every class they take. Standardized testing has been a part of the educational system for so long that everyone is just accustomed to taking these tests or giving them out. Standardized testing does not just effect the students but it also effects the teachers. Chesapeake School Board should get rid of standardized testing in all grade levels because of different learning style, it limits the teachers to what they can teach and poor test scores.

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

In an attempt to create educational reform, pieces of legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have been passed with the hopes of making schools “accountable” to the children within their walls. Although this piece of legislation was eventually overturned its effects are still being felt within Americas public schools and it is estimated that this generation will be less literate than their precursors (Kohn). Although well intentioned, the NCLB failed schools, teachers, and most importantly students all as a result of one key aspect of the law: high-stakes testing. According to the No Child Left Behind act, all states are required to give standardized tests to their students in the hopes of holding teachers accountable for their scores and ensuring all students become “proficient.” These tests have come to determine whether or not students can graduate, how and what teachers teach, as well as how much funding a school will receive. High-stakes tests can make or break a school, but with all this pressure are kids really showing sizable gains in areas like math, science, or reading? The answer is no and time and time again

42% of high school seniors in Ohio are not set to graduate because of their poor scores on standardized tests. Students all over the United States are forced to take statewide standardized tests each year. Many claim that standardized testing allows for teachers to help their students easier, and that it holds school districts accountable. While school mandated standardized testing can be useful, statewide standardized testing is ineffective and negatively impacts students.

Under No Child Left Behind, standards and assessments rest tightly at the national education policy, and remain as the strongest force on policy and practice. Despite the importance of high-stakes testing to improve America’s public education system, there have been numerous effects on schools, teachers, and even the students.

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.

Excessive testing has been integrated in the public school system to measure student intelligence, observe teacher proficiency, and distribute federal funds since the passage of the No Child Left behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001. The (NCLBA) ‘‘called for 100% of the nation’s public school students to become proficient in mathematics and reading by 2014’’ through the usage of standardized testing (Hanson 3). Since the inception of this policy there have been numerous issues involved in these tests. ‘‘Instead of providing equal access for all children, the frenetic use of mandated testing in schools and in teacher education is having the opposite effect’’ (Richardson 34). Standardized testing is an ineffective and outdated tool that creates a

In 1926 Carl Brigham established the first standardized test, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, also known as the SAT (PBS). Was this invention harmful for students’ education? Subsequently, the test would assess a student’s knowledge and compare their scores with another group of students. For that reason, the practice of standardized tests to determine the quality of a student’s education is highly unreliable. It impacts both students and teachers in a negative manner. For the most part, the Board of Education should avoid standardized testing when measuring students' knowledge.

“The average student in America’s big-city public schools takes some 112 mandatory standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and the end of 12th grade” (Strauss). These statistics show that on average students take eight standardized tests every year, spending twenty to twenty-five hours each school year testing (Strauss). “By contrast, most countries that outperform the United States on international exams test students three times during their school careers” (Layton). Students throughout other countries are able to test better than children in the United States, with just over thirty-seven times less the amount of tests. What causes these outrageous different results between United States students and students from other countries? This is one of the many questions faculty members and parents ask themselves. How are they supposed to positively change standardized testing for all of the future children in America and prepare them for what lies ahead? Standardized testing has become extremely flawed over the years, so new guidelines need to be introduced to find a more beneficial way of testing children’s knowledge.

Silent classrooms. Empty hallways. Stressed out student. Strict teachers. Students hearts pounding waiting to start the test. Millions of kids in America take some sort of standardized testing each year. The reason behind kids taking this test is because states think that it is helping the students learn. Standardized testing is not helping students or teachers, but what it is doing is stressing out both of them, because the test decides if students pass or fail that grade and decides if a teacher can keep their job.

A standardized test is a type of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions in the same way. The tests are graded in a “standard” manner, which makes it easy to compare the performances of individual students. Researchers argue that standardized testing is a necessary tool in measuring students’ knowledge, skills and understanding. They believe standardized tests are objective, fair, efficient, and comprehensive. Although standardized tests are a key tool in the education system they need to be reassessed and have more lead way. Standardized tests can have a very negative impact on students and the test results are not entirely reliable. Parents should be able to have the option to opt their child out of standardized tests, if deemed necessary.