Why Is Standardized Testing Unfair

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

This alteration of the class curriculum results in a narrowing of the classroom focus to better take a specific test, but when the same material is tested in a different way, results show that information is not retained (“Why” 2). An 18-month study found that because of standardized tests, elementary school teachers had to give up on “reading real books, writing, and long term projects” because they had to spend more time reviewing material that was tested in the external assessments (Shepard 3). Barth and Mitchell insist that the overuse of standardized tests will distort the curriculum to only go over what is going to be tested (1), and the group Parents Across America support that claim because their children will miss out on important lessons like teamwork, being creative and learning to ask good questions (1). Barth and Mitchell clarify that teaching the format of the test with the purpose of preparing the student can be helpful, but only to the extent of a couple of weeks before the exam

Although standardized testing has been a major part of schooling it has also had a negative impact on effective education. Standardized has made a huge impact on public schooling so much that not only does it affect the students but also the teachers. With the teachers now beginning to get raises or having their jobs on the line if their students fail the test, many students have not been getting the fullest education process that they could get. Students may not realize the impact that it has had on the type of teaching style that they receive because they are so used to it. With so many teachers not having a lot of time to teach what is on the test and the other things that they feel are important to students to know, a lot of

Standardized tests are exams that are supposed to measure a child’s academic knowledge but have long been a controversial subject of discussion. Although it is one method to see how a child is performing, is it the best method? Standardized testing can be biased or unfair, inhibit both the teacher’s and the children’s creativity and flexibility, affect funding for schools, cause untested subjects to be eliminated from the curriculum, and cause anxiety for children and teachers.

Standardized testing is an unfair way to judge how these students are making progress. Simply, some students do not test as well as other students do. There could be a very smart student that simply can not do well on test for whatever the reason may be, but the sad thing is we allow this to continue happening even when its totally unfair. Most of the time, students that come from a low-income family are treated the most unfairly. They attended poorly-funded schools with large class sizes, too many teachers without subject area certification, and inadequate books, laboratories and so on. States don’t put these schools into consideration that they don’t have the best education system. Instead, they continue to take it out on the students and deny them diplomas because of them not being about to afford a highly-funded school.

“…only twenty-two percent of those surveyed said increased testing had helped the performance of their local schools compared with twenty-eight in 2007” (“Public Skeptical of Standardized Testing.”). Furthermore the poll indicated an eleven percent increase, compared to last year, towards the favor of discontinuing the usage of students’ test results for teacher evaluations. William Bushaw, executive director of PDK International and co-director of PDK/Gallup Poll also stated, “Americans’ mistrust of standardized tests and their lack of confidence and understanding around new education standards is one the most surprising developments we’ve found in years” (“Public Skeptical of Standardized Testing.”). All in all, not only are these tests a concern for students, who are forced to sit through them, hoping to get a decent enough score to place into a class, receive their diploma, or even get accepted to the college of their dreams, but they are a concern for parents as well, who only want the best for their children and to see them succeed.

Standardized testing in the United States started in the mid- 1800’s (Standardized Tests - ProCon.org). This kind of testing was originally created to measure students’ performance and progress in school (Standardized Tests - ProCon.org). In recent years, the public school system has relied heavily on the information this test provides, in doing so creating controversy. Other than being a student myself, and participating in multiple standardized exams such as, CSAP, ACT, and SAT, I do not have much background knowledge on this debate. The debate over standardized testing has raised this inquiry question: What are the effects of standardized testing on the United States public education system?

Following the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, it has not only sparked fear in students but teachers as well. High stakes testing has taken a toll on student creativity and achievement as well as the closing of schools and termination of teachers and administrators. In 2011 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated that “82 percent of schools could be failing by the end of 2012” (US News, 2013). Proponents of testing such as taxpayers and parents approve of this process as it increases accountability of the schools and teachers.

Standardized tests do not cover real-life topics. Standardized tests are less educational than parents think. States make schools take these tests in-order to get more funding and to see how the teachers are performing. These tests have many effects on the students and their grades. The Kansas Silent Reading Test is one of the first known multiple choice standardized test in America. This test was created to reduce “Time and Effort” in administration and scoring (Standardized). Although schools do use the standardized testing methods in the classrooms today that was not what it was originally used for. Standardized testing began in the United States during WWI because the Army needed a method to determine which soldiers were “Officer Material” (Billy 75).

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.

Schools all over the nation have introduced standardized testing as a way to evaluate what the students have learned over the course of the school year. Exams can be administered online or on paper, depending on the subject. Test can be taken at different points of the school year; results can be used as a way to determine what areas are weaker than others. Most results are viewed by the school board, administrators, and teachers. In some schools students take one end of the year test with different subjects, other just takes one test. These tests can be graded by groups of people are computers. Standardized testing has become a part of America’s educational system and many don’t see the benefit of the test at all.

Ever since then standardized testing has been a huge part of education. Teachers across the nation had to teach to the curriculum instead of what they thought the students needed to learn. Nowadays colleges strictly look at ACT and SAT scores rather than classroom grades, because they believe that some teachers grade on a curve and are not giving the students a fair chance. Standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance. A 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-over-year tests core improvements were temporary and “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning…”(“Standardized Tests”). Teachers are stressed over if they are teaching “correctly”. They went to a 4-year college, some even more, to get a degree in something that they wanted to do, either for themselves or for the children, and now they have to “teach to the test”. Tests can only measure a portion of the goals of education. A pschometrician, Daniel Koretz says, “standardized tests usually do not provide a direct and complete measure of educational achievement.”(Harris, Harris, and Smith).

A very current and ongoing important issue happening within the education system is standardized testing. A standardized test is any examination that's administered and scored in a calculated, standard manner. There are two major kinds of standardized tests: aptitude tests and achievement tests. Standardized aptitude tests predict how well students might perform in some subsequent educational setting. The most common examples are the SAT’s and the ACT’s. The SAT and the ACT attempt to estimate how well high school students will perform in college. But standardized test scores are what citizens and school board members rely on when they evaluate a school's effectiveness. Nationally, five such tests are in use: California Achievement Tests,

Standardized tests are annoying little things that students in schools all across the nation have to take every year. Though, if all the facts are taken into consideration, they do not really seem worth it, do they? Many people speculate whether or not they are actually measuring a student’s intelligence or anything like that. It seems that students do not necessarily have to learn the material, only memorize it for a short period of time. The question has to be raised, though-- what exactly qualifies a test to be a standardized test? Well, as described by The Glossary of Education Reform, there are two main things that make a test standardized. The first being that the test “...requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or

The debate on standardized tests and its adequacy in testing a student’s knowledge about a subject has been going on for many years. Tests, in general, has been around for centuries and without them there would not be progress and no gleams of progress. Students ranging from elementary school to high school have experienced standardized testing. Teachers, educators, and parents are also involved in the students’ lives, which revolves around the tests, one way or another. There are many views on standardized test. However, the three most common views are: educators who are for standardized test which benefits students, educators who are at the other extreme of opposing standardized tests, and educators who view tests are a benefit if done in appropriate amounts.