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The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

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After the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, standardized testing has been required in all 50 states. Since standardized testing has become mandatory, the United States ranking in various subjects has decreased. One of the reasons there has been failure in the US education system is the increase in use of standardized testing. From kindergarten to 12th grade, students will take about 122 standardized tests. Although standardized tests are a dependable measure of a student's academic understanding, these tests immensely limit the curriculum taught in schools People against standardized testing argue that standardized tests fail to give every student an equal opportunity and aren’t reliable sources of a person’s intelligence. They thought students should be evaluated for their performance throughout the year, rather than just the results on one single test: “A student who comes into fourth grade at a first-grade reading level, but improves to a third-grade reading level by the end of the year, will still be measured as being deficient on their standardized test. Instead of evaluating the hard work that a student puts in for improvement, the test basically calls the student a failure. (Vittana)” In addition to this, if a student is bothersome, their focus isn’t where it should be during the test. This could play a big role in a student’s results.
However these are valid arguments, the tests actually are very reliable and trustworthy sources of information

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