Against Standardized Testing Essay

Standardized Testing: The Death of Our Education System

To begin, the mental health of students is negatively impacted by standardized testing environments and can affect their overall academic performance. An article from the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology describes an intense form of anxiety during standardized testing called test anxiety. This kind of anxiety is a “biopsychosocial condition, characterized by persistent anxiety in test situations''(Gale 1171). Students’ mental health is tremendously affected by standardized testing situations and certain forms of stress and anxiety can hinder the students overall test performance. Because of this anxiety, schools cannot accurately test the students academic readiness, and shows that their

This miniscule picture of their ability, not only makes the student dread the standardized testing environment, but also affects the students overall self esteem and confidence in themselves. Due to intense testing, students are losing interest in school and learning, and are being negatively affected by strict testing environments. Furthermore, the uncomfortable environments and long test times make testing an even bigger challenge to many students. These stringent circumstances not only heighten students anxiety and stress, but they harm students morale, and could result in inaccurate exam results.

Moreover, standardized testing should be abolished because of its blatant disregard for the needs of students. “Standardized Testing”, an article published by Gale claims “standardized testing ultimately leads teachers to spend more time on test preparation than on the actual material students need to study as part of their intellectual development” (1). This divulges that time that could be spent learning, is being wasted by test prep and

However, standardized testing does not accuratley track the progress of students, and does not take into account other individual factors that can take a toll on the students test performance. An article by James Popham states that “students' scores on standardized tests have increasingly been regarded as the most meaningful evidence for evaluating U.S. schools, and Most Americans, indeed, believe that students' standardized test performances are the only legitimate indicator of a school's instructional effectiveness”(1). Although Popham makes a good point, his argument is not correct. An article by Gale states that “it is difficult to separate out in test form, the difference between aptitude, innate ability, achievement due to ability, and achievement resulting from learned knowledge or skills(1) Since there are so many different factors that go into a students performance during standardized testing, the test scores itself are not an accurate measure of the ability and progress of students. If there is no way to separate the skills that go into succeeding in a standardized test, than how is it measuring the progress of the students? It’s not. This proves that putting the accountability on the teachers is not benefitial or correct, as many students struggle to retain the information teachers have taught them, or they