The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing For Students

Standardized tests can place a huge amount of stress on students and teachers. Some students do well with certain levels of stress, others not so much. A lot of students suffer from what is called test anxiety which hinders performance. Studies suggest that too much stress is psychologically and physically harmful. Stress is so overwhelming that the brain shifts into a “fight or flight” response. Which means that it is impossible to engage in a higher order thinking process that

Standardize tests can be used to evaluate a student's understanding and knowledge in subject area. For example, The Georgia Milestones Assessment System (Georgia Milestones) is a comprehensive summative assessment, which measures how well students have learned the knowledge and skills outlined in the state-adopted content standards in English Language Arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Standardize test have a positive effect on instructional decision making in the classroom. Standardize testing can help teachers diagnose student issues, evaluate student academic performance, form small groups, and develop instructional plans.

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

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind law in 2002, standardized testing has been at the center of attention in the educational system. Several schools and teachers have been forced to drill children on the information they will be tested on. Teachers are forced to demonstrate other important topics in order to teach test material. Similar to majority of tests provided in the school system, standardized test have both pros and cons. Generally speaking, standardized testing is a great way to determine a baseline for a child. As Miller (2016) indicated, tests have a multitude of benefits, which include student enthusiasm, peer learning, self-improvement and retention, transfer of learning, student self-assessment, and teacher instructional guidance. Teachers are able to use the data from the standardized tests to build an entire academic plan around the results. Additionally, students and parents are able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each child in order to determine the next steps needed to help bridge any gaps within their academic studies.

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.

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

Students are overwhelmed with school, work, extra-curricular activities, family, etc. Perhaps standardized tests are a major contributor to students’ stress. A standardized test is any test scored in a consistent manner and requires test-takers to answer identical questions. Among the most common include the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT). According to the article “Standardized Testing Has Negatively Impacted Public Schools” from Opposing Viewpoints in Context, the beginnings of standardized tests occurred during World War I when the American Psychological Association developed a “ground-administered test” to eliminate inefficient recruits (Solley 3). Today, standardized tests are necessary for college admission. Just last month, in March of 2016, College Board, the non-profit organization responsible for administering the SAT, altered the format of the test. It is now formatted more similar to the ACT and includes an optional essay reducing the score from 2400 to 1600. Many advocates argue standardized tests accurately measure academic intelligence and hold teachers and schools accountable. In today’s society, standardized tests have become the norm, and unfortunately, people overlook their negative effects despite research substantiating arguments about their disadvantages. Standardized tests are disadvantageous because they hinder education and contain bias.

Jouriles, Greg. “Here’s why we don’t need standardized testing.” Education Week 33.36(2014). 36,40. Web. 22 February 2015.

Alarming is an understatement when it comes to the anxiety and stress standardized testing brings. Students are told how vital these tests can be to college acceptance, class placement, and school ranking, so it is no surprise that they lead students to become stressed out and anxious about taking the assessments. According to education researcher Gregory J. Cizek, "illustrating how testing... produces gripping anxiety in even the brightest students, and makes young children vomit or cry, or both" (2). The affect standardized testing has on students is unacceptable, no students should be anxious and uneasy about going to school due to a test. To continue, the Sacramento Bee reported that "test-related jitters, especially among young students,

There are too many external factors that could influence a child’s test score, yet, we’ve allowed standardized testing to determine a child’s future. “For example, test anxiety has grown into a subfield of educational psychology, and its prevalence means that the tests producing this reaction are not giving us a good picture of what many students really know and can do.” (Kohn, 2000) The high amount of value American society places on standardized testing can cause a high amount of anxiety, which can be associated with a fear of failure. “While the pressure to perform well can act as a motivator, it can also be devastating to individuals who tie their self worth to the outcome of a test.” (Test Anxiety) Test anxiety can manifest itself in the form of an anxiety attack, which can cause symptoms such as difficulty concentrating and brain fog, among a multitude of other uncomfortable manifestations. Anxiety, along with many other factors, can alter a student’s ability to display their full potential. (Test

Standardized testing creates a lot of stress on students and educators alike. Because of how much stress is put on them to prepare students for these tests, many excellent teachers quit their jobs everyday. In fact, in April, new federal data stated that 17 percent of new public school teachers leave their profession after four years due to stress and other reasons. Some teachers fail to teach students skills that go beyond the tests because they’re so pressured to get their students ready for these exams. This amount of stress can lead to feelings of negativity towards school and learning in general as well as cause negative health issues. Standardized tests places a large amount of stress on both teachers and 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.

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. The biggest test of his life is staring him right in the face, but all he can do is try to calm his breathing before he passes out. This young man is suffering from test anxiety, something countless students endure, but have to attempt to get over in order to take a mandatory standardized test, that in no way benefits them in the future. Standardized testing shrinks the curriculum; puts too much emphasis on specific subjects; lowers students’ motivation to learn; is used as an inaccurate comparison between students; includes insignificant information; gives inaccurate evaluations of students; teachers, and schools; and promotes cheating and conformity, and therefore should not be a required part of secondary schooling.

Teachers have criteria, which are defined as evaluative standards that can be used as yardsticks for measuring employees’ success or failure. Some of that criterion are: filing efficiency, interactions with clients/students, interactions with coworkers, creativity, written communication, oral communication, liking, attractiveness, etc. Criteria for the criteria needs to have relevance, reliability, sensitivity, practicality, and fairness. Teachers also need to watch their performance criteria, which are: absence, lateness, productivity, etc. (Levy p. 93-110). Otherwise, the students will do the same.