The Negative Impact Of Standardized Testing On Students

Standardized testing is known to improve students’ education, but is it really needed in school? Standardized testing determines whether a student is prepared for the next grade based on their test scores. While some students do great on their test others struggle a lot. Not all students are good test takers; majority of the students do good in school but struggle when it comes down to testing. While many agree that standardized testing helps improve students education, it shouldn’t be necessary in school because one test score shouldn’t determine a student’s readiness or academic level.

My first reason standardized tests are not a good idea is that they overpopulate the schools. Texas takes 15 and Indiana takes 5. The tests take away time from learning more about a subject. Our country as a whole takes way to many standardized tests. standardized tests are overpopulating schools and not letting kids learn more parts of the subjects.

Would you like to take a test that is unfair, expensive, and unreliable? Chances are you already have. Standardized testing in schools is not only bad for the students, but also bad for our country’s future. Some might think standardized testing is a good thing, because it is the only way to measure all students the same across the country. However, this thought is wrong for many reasons.

A Teachingabout.com “Examining the Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing,” Standardized testing allows students located in various schools, districts, and even states to be compared. Without standardized testing, this comparison would not be possible. Public school students in the state of Texas are all required to take the same state standardized tests. This means that a student in Amarillo can be compared to a student in Dallas. Being able to accurately analyze data is invaluable and is a primary reason that the Common Core State Standards have been adopted in many states. These will allow for a more accurate comparison between states.Yes, standardized tests allow students around the world to compare their scores. Although Connectusfund.org “10 Big Advantages and Disadvantages of Standardized Testing,” The tests do not really assess skill as the questions have to be generalized for the entire population. In short, the test items are not in conjunction with classroom skills and behavior. What standardized tests do is assess the general knowledge and understanding of students rather than their actual ability. Now would we really like to make students miserable by making them suffer through standardized test. So ask yourself do really think that students should take such horrifying things like standardized

In order to graduate in 2018 and beyond, a high school student is required to take seven standardized tests, achieving a cumulative score of 18, earning a minimum of four points in math, four points in English and six points across science and social studies (Ohio Department of Education). Students, in many schools, can spend weeks, and sometimes even months preparing to take these assessments. Teachers take time out of their lesson plans to help their students by teaching to the test. Once it is time to actually begin the assessments, students will spend weeks staring at computer screens, answering question after question, and then sit around doing nothing for at least half an hour because of the required amount of time everyone has to take the test for. Once the tests are over, students go back to their lives, forgetting about them until they get the scores in the mail, or when they ultimately have to take more assessments the following year. Standardized testing has a negative impact on the students, and this poor evaluation of a student’s growth needs to be changed.

1.7 billion dollars are spent on standardized tests each year, according to Pearson, by Steve Ferrara, a Ph.D. Research Scientist. All students in grades 3-8 are required to take state standardized tests. It does not even affect students’ grade, it just measures students’ intelligence, unreliably. One test taken in 10 hours determines how smart a student is as well as influence in getting into college. Standardized tests should not be taken anymore because these test are too expensive, too time-consuming, and cause unnecessary stress for students.

You may wonder, Why do we have standardized tests? They were created so that the government could keep track of how schools were performing and they wanted to see how the money they gave the schools was being used. “In 1965, as part of the War on Poverty, the Johnson administration sent extra federal funding to low-income schools, and in return asked for data to make sure the money was making an impact.”(Rizga) “Standardized tests have been a part of American . education since the mid-1800s.” (Standardized) Standardized testing has been in our lives for over 150 years and it has been used to keep track of the education level of the citizens. “The modern testing movement began with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), enacted

Standardized testing just adds to the long list of tests taken by student every year. Council of the Great City Schools Study says that a typical student takes 112 mandated tests between Pre-K and 12th grade. That doesn’t count tests that are given on a regular basis. The heaviest testing falls on the nation’s 8th grade.According to Washington Post, the average 8th grader spends 25.3 hours a year taking standardized tests. Having that many tests a year is stressful to both the student and the teacher. Teachers feel they need to prepare for the tests, which cuts out on the time that lessons can be taught. Standardized testing is too much for a student to handle along with all the other tests and homework they have.

Standardized testing allows for something schools can compare students’ knowledge with. Although this may be true, testing is actually harmful. Standardized tests are an unfair way to be accessed because they do not accurately represent a student’s abilities. Many people don’t perform well on tests; they are smart, and understand the subject, but they don’t show it on the test. It is easy to forget something on a test, even if you studied for a while and normally understand the topic. Many students experience nerves or anxiety when taking a test. Feeling nervous has been proven to affect a student's performance for the worst. Students panic if they run into a question they aren’t sure of the answer to which decreases their score even more. 50% to 80% of test scores were fluctuated and had nothing to do with the actual growth in learning of a student. This shows that tests are an unfair analyzation because the scores are not accurate.

There are many reasons why standardized tests aren’t successful, such as unfair advantages for those with test anxiety, flaws in the grading of standardized tests and the eventual loss of interest that occur for those who score poorly. Standardized test has been keyed to a deeply flawed curriculum adopted in 1893 and provide minimal to no useful feedback to classroom teachers regarding he abilities of their

Schools and the state should not make students take standardized tests. First of all, for most of the test, the students have not learned the material. Also, it only examines how someone does that one day and not of the whole year. Lastly, some of these tests rate the school and teacher’s performance, and not actually seeing what the students are learning in class.

“Standardized test are not even necessary because it barely shows what we already don’t know. It has proven to just be a waste of money and even teachers will tell students that there is no need for the testing” (Jouriles). Plenty of needs for the state can be taken care of if the state would let standardized test go and distribute the test money to other needs. The test are rigged anyway therefore, students cheat because the curriculum is too hard. “The performances from the assessments are not great and that is mainly because the tests are not taken seriously and the information is not relevant to what has been taught” (Jouriles). With that being said standardized testing is neither worth the budget nor importance of education.

For over 150 years students in the United States have been given the standardized test. Flip Today, standardized testing in our nation’s schools has become the normal for …placement…etc for students in grades three through eight in all fifty states. In twelve of the fifty states standardized testing is required to graduate high school. Graduation qualifying exams are used in 12 of the 50 states. ***Standardized test measures a student’s academic a standardized test measures or standardized tests measure…progress. Many argue these standardized tests take away valuable time and resources from what students should be learning in the classroom, as well as funding the school receives, standardized testing is very costly with the test manufactures having control of the test. Teachers have been known to report the results of the standardized test do not come back until the summer as most tests are administered later in the school year so teachers have time to prepare the students for the test, once teacher receive the results they are on summer break and are preparing for a new group of students. Other teachers state there is no feedback about the student's scores so there is no feedback on what needs to be improved from the teacher's point. Studies show that many students have test anxiety, more so in students with disabilities, with

have to teach the matctial faster, which is very stressful for kids, and sometimes have questions that aren't completely a part ofthe standard.

"The average student in America’s big-city public schools takes at least 112 mandatory standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and the end of 12th grade — an average of about eight a year according to studies. That eats up between 20-25 hours every school year, the study says. As for the results, they often overlap. On top of all that are teacher-written tests, sometimes taken by students along with standardized tests in the very same subject" (Strauss, Valerie. "Confirmed: Standardized Testing Has Taken over Our Schools. But Who’s to Blame?" Washington Post. The Washington) Standardized tests have always been used to measure a student’s progress in core subjects. But recently, federal funding hinges test results. It all started with President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, which requires states to grade schools based on test results in order to receive federal funds.