What Are The Benefits Of Standardized Testing Argumentative Essay

Currently, standardized tests do not improve the education of students in America. Standardized testing is not an accurate measure of student’s knowledge because they are designed to test an extremely broad amount of students who do not have the same educational background. This makes it incredibly difficult to test students across the world on the same level and expect their scores to reflect their education. Standardized testing, by definition, is any test containing the same questions that is administered to a vast group of people for the purpose of comparing different student’s test scores. This issue is important because it affects the entire academic community, positively and negatively. Therefore, all teachers, students, school staff, and test administrators have some involvement with standardized testing. The vast majority of people in America have taken a standardized test sometime in their life, which makes these tests vital in the

College is right around the corner and senior year will soon be coming to a close. Over the years, I have been exposed to all sorts of standardized tests. Some of these I can prepare for, like the ACT, while others seem to throw some curveballs, like the MAP Assessment. Either way, both tests help measure and determine my ability as a student. No student looks forward to taking exams, but I understand why they are essential for evaluating students. Standardized tests allow colleges and teachers to measure student’s ability as well as push students to study and take things seriously. For this reason, I think the number of them should be maintained.

Standardized tests are completely unfair. In The Washington Post, Marion Brady argues this issue. She states that students that do not speak English or have special needs take the same tests as every other student. Also, non English speakers are taking these tests without mastering the language first. Special needs students

Why standardized tests people say, well in this article a man named Michelle Rhee, A former Washington, DC, schools chancellor has made it clear that everyone should be treated the same. He is saying that having these tests can show people with disabilities what they can do. Having different things for them should not be allowed and is rude. He is trying to get these tests all over the country to show how talented we are. He loves to hear back from the parents. The parents usually say they love standardized test because they get to see how their child is doing. He is also saying that having standardized test is a good thing to have for education. He thinks it tells us how well everything is going. He says,"You can't separate them, and to try to do so creates two, unequal systems, one with accountability and one without it. This is a civil rights issue." This is Michelle Rhee supporting why we should keep standardized test.

There are many valid arguments, deeming it unfair to multiple parties. For example, those who speak a different language or have immigrated to the United States cannot easily be equipped to handle the standardized testing well known to our community, because they do not have enough time to master our language before being thrust into the testing realm. Special education students are also discriminated against, having to take the same standard of testing as their peers who do not have special needs. Standardized tests also don’t measure anything outside the scope of what is deemed meaningful education. “According to late education researcher Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, qualities that standardized tests cannot measure include "creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline, leadership, civic-mindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefulness, sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty, integrity."” (ProConorg). There is also the argument that teachers are just “teaching the test” rather than instilling our young generation with predominant qualities needed to be successful in life. These tests, according to studies done, are narrowing the curriculum taught, and increasing the price on testing, making it difficult on our educational system’s budgets. Some believe that

PARCC, TLI, Benchmark, and all of the common core standards have changed teaching methods. Instead of focusing on making one child better at a lesson they are not understanding, teachers have to move on to the next lesson. This could be a factor in the United States having a spot near the bottom when being tested against other nations. Teachers are not allowed enough time to accurately tutor their students on everything they need to know and be ready for because the individuals have to learn as much as possible before the end of the year. Therefore, they are constantly learning new skills with the possibility of not even knowing the last. Testing has made receiving a proper education almost impossible. The intended purpose of standardized test was to increase the score of the nation as a whole. In the past few years increased scores have not transpired, in fact, they have more than likely descended. The only effect these tests have acquired for this nation is making undergraduates feel less about themselves and increased the stress level of each individual.

Students shouldn’t be measured by what they get on standardized test since it doesn’t show other things that the students are good at. The author wrote, “ Contrary to popular assumptions about standardized testing, the tests do a poor job of measuring student achievement. They fail to measure such important attributes as creativity and critical thinking skills.” (Opposing viewpoints in Context pg.1) The author’s main argument is that standardized tests do not show the other skill that students, schools or programs have that isn’t shown just through a test. That Standardized testing doesn’t effectively measure the achievement of students. In his or her article, the author puts what achievement is but what is based on standardized test and not other things. A lot of attributes are not measured from the standardized tests. There are some places that have rewards for “shallow thinking” (Opposing viewpoints Pg.3)

“Standardized testing has become the arbiter of social mobility, yet there is more regulation of the food we feed our pets that of the tests we give our kids ” (Robert Schaeffer quotes)

Since 1805 public schools have been the backbone of many Americans and their strive for an education. On top of this, public schools, according to the Huffington Post, equate to 91% or 50.7 million of those attending pre-Kindergarten through the 12th grade. But, with other school types such as year-round attending over 2 million students, the question begs, “Which school type provides their students with the best education”?

Standardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some people may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay.

What if I told you that some students didn’t really learn anything.Some test’s may make a student very nervous to take.Standardized testing is something no student is excited for and is hard for many kids which doesn’t really help them.Many kids have reported that what the did didn’t make them achieve anything.Students seem that the test is unreliable with what they were taught in class.Most kids think that it’s useless,not so exciting,and can cause a lot of stress,especially children our age.

Students who speak English fluently only have the challenge of remembering what they have learned and answering the questions correctly, but non English speakers have to attempt to understand what the test is saying and comprehend everything. Procons.org explains in their article, “Standarized tests are unfair and discriminatory against non English speakers and students with special needs. English language learners take tests in English before they have mastered the language.” Test makers don’t factor in every student's individuality and making a non english student take a english test and expecting to do as well as a student has been speaking English their whole life is a little unfair. Same goes for special needs students tests should be adjusted for them and they should have the right to pick which one they want to take. Standardized tests have no distinctiveness what so ever, it’s kind of like you have a pen, pencil, marker, crayon, paint brush and so forth and have the same exact sharpener. Then attempt to sharpen the pen, pencil, marker, crayon, and paint brush. You’re not going to get the same result because each of these items are different. Some don’t fit, some just don’t sharpen because they are not meant

I’ve always thought that the statewide and national testing system would be a lot better, if there were some flexibility. If only there were some kind of way to let teachers assess students’ learning, or remove all but the most important tests. Oh wait, there is. Many countries already have such systems, and these are some of the countries that the United States most admires in international education comparisons. Advocates of the current standardized testing system argue that standardized testing is good because it essentially gives a

To begin with standardized testing creates several critical problems for students and for the education industry. These tests are created to test over particular things. In the end these types of tests are only limited in the amount of knowledge that can be tested toward students. For example, “Standardized exams offer few opportunities to display the attributes of high-order thinking, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creativity.” (“Standardized Testing Has Serious Limitations”). Even though these tests are able to attack certain subjects at the core, they still leave out very valuable and critical information that all students should know. In

Standardized Testing has been around for many decades in the United States. In 2001 George Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act was used as a teacher evaluation tool and not a student evaluation tool. It was a misconceived belief that teachers were giving easier tests to show higher grades for their students it was also believed that the same teachers were bumping grades to make themselves look better and more effective (Introduction: No Child Left Behind. 2005). The push for standardized testing came from Universities and Colleges because they were using Secondary Education grades as part of their admission process and they were discovering that some students were coming in with a less than proficient skill set that did not match up to the grades that showed on