The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

Standardized tests inhibit the ability for students to perform well on stress inducing tests; thus, students question their abilities to succeed, and they lack engagement in their educational learning. Standardized tests produce the feeling of anxiety as heart beats accelerate, bodies’ tremble, faces flush, sweat pores open, hands grip tighter, and muscles tense. As the test dates come closer, students are

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.

Each year high school students from around the country take the SAT or ACT. The ACT and SAT are both standardized test used by colleges to determine the knowledge of a student and predict what their performance will be in their first year of college. An immense amount of pressure is put on student to receive certain scores in order to obtain scholarships and admission into college. Even just one point on a student’s score can determine if they will be accepted into their dream college. However, the results from standardized tests, such as the ACT and SAT, are often inaccurate. Because of this one’s knowledge and academic ability are misrepresented, and they are denied certain opportunities. Standardized tests such as the ACT and the SAT

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.

Some may argue that testing can be a good way to determine someone's level of intelligence but the preparation of it can bring a boat load of anxiety. Students would legit do anything it takes to pass a test because the ideal they have in their minds is that if whether they pass or fail the exam it will have either a positive or negative effect on their futures lives. Some students can handle stress but some can’t. Speaking from experience taking a standardized test every other day to “test my growth” doesn’t leave me any room to think about or accomplish things that really need to be done or what I actually need to improve on to better myself. Stressing over taking tests can also be a an undermine to learning. All the pressure and the stressing of the students passing these standardized Test have the teachers neglecting the fact that they are not teaching students skills that go far beyond testing.

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.

Standardized tests set a standard for all students to be at the same level of intelligence and comprehension, whether it be Keystone exams, Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT), or the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, America is obsessed with having their students reach a certain score or better. With the addition of high school exit exams, are we taking standardized testing too far? The argument that the Washington Post gives in one of its articles uses arguments such as the facts that come from these tests and what should be required of graduating high school.

whose purpose is to ensure fairness and accuracy in student test taking, said: "The widespread

There was a lot of conflict in the past about how people are being educated. Therefore , standardized testing was made to see how much intelligence a person has on a topic .However standardized tests don’t measure how people learn in a classroom . standardized testing is not a good way to test students because tests don’t measure an individual intelligence , tests should not be used to determine funding for school , the teachers cheat on the tests to protect the students ,and its ethically wrong to give a lot of standardized tests to kids .

High-stakes standardized tests are tests that determine awards, punishments, compensations, and advancements for a school. These tests hold standards that students are expected to reach and that the teachers are expected to bring the students to reach. Emergent bilinguals are the students we refer to as English Language Learners in American Schools: students whose primary language may not be English. According to the book Educating Emergent Bilinguals, “It has been widely demonstrated that as a result of inadequate high-stakes tests, emergent bilinguals experience more remedial instruction, greater probability of assignment to lower curriculum tracks, higher drop out rates, poorer graduation rates, and disproportionate referrals to special education classes (103). All of these are negative results associated with high-stakes tests and emergent bilinguals.

Standardized tests have been part of American culture since the 1800s. Many disappointments in the education system have been blamed on the use of standardized tests. Standardized tests do not measure student achievement or ability.

Who pays for the standardize tests that just repeatedly test students over the same things? Is it the tax payers, schools, local, state, or are these tests government funded? Here are the exact words from an article from the eduFocus, “According to a study by Brown Center on Education Policy, a sufficient education isn’t the only thing that standardized tests are costing students, school districts, and tax payers. The study finds that 44 states spend upwards of a collective $1.7 billion on standardized testing each year of grades K through 12. The state of Pennsylvania alone spent over $58M on standardized testing, roughly $33 per student (assuming all students are tested every year).” (Strauss). Where else could that money go? It could make

Standardized tests sometime are created to measure something they can’t. It is like if you take a ruler and try to take the temperature of something. Same thing for standardized tests, they can’t measure creativity, how someone collabes with others or how someone handels problems (TedEd Arlo Kempf). In a article written by Jessie B. Ramey for the Washington Post, Jessie explains why standardized tests are harmful for both the student and their educators. “Harmful stress: children are pressured to not only demonstrate their knowledge but to represent the effectiveness of their schools. Teachers are reporting children throwing up,losing control of their bowels, and increased commitments for psychiatric and anxiety issues”. Standardized tests are also harmful for the educators. Many teachers only “teach to test” this only harms the students overall learning potential and a lot of them quit because of how stressful it is to prepare students to perform good on standardized

School for 10 months each year, for 12 years of a person’s life. Students getting taught four main subjects each day: math, science, history, and science. Then, every year, students typically take one big standardized test, or even more. These tests are claimed to give educators an objective that’s unbiased. Standardized testing supposedly helps identify the natural tendency of individual students, identifying skill development and progress. However, are these things what standardized testing really do for students?

Eighty out of one hundred-eighty days, on average of twenty point three percent for eighth graders, one hundred-twelve tests overall, twenty-five percent on average, these are statistics found on the amount of time that standardized test take.(*****) Which doesn’t include the optional exams like the Advanced Placement (AP), American College Training (ACT), or the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), along with the inclass exams like the tests, quizzes, and prep time taken for all of these exams. Are classrooms over testing their student’s? *