Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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Have you ever had to take a standardized test, was it fun for you? Did you think there should be an alternative? Schools should us alternatives for standardized testing because students may have test anxiety, these tests take time away from our other academics, and teachers have to teach the test.
There should be alternatives to standardized testing because testing can cause stress and anxiety in students which affect their overall scores. 10 to 40 percent of all students experience test anxiety, the percentage of test anxiety increases with the increase of standardized testing. A moderate level of test anxiety can help a student focus, they just don’t know that they have it. For the 10 to 40 percent who report test anxiety they are experiencing …show more content…

Standardized testing takes 16 hours away from kids in 6-8th grades, 15 hours away from kids in 3-5 grades. 14 days are given to preparing for state-mandated exams, and 12 days preparing for district mandated exams now that takes time away from other classes to the point where it will affect your grade. For iowa assessments, a state mandated test, we lose 3 days of language arts, 3 days of math, 1 day of science, and 1 day for social studies that takes time away for working. Like in language arts we are writing a paper and due to Iowa assessments we do not have enough time to proficiently finish the paper. Another state mandated test, called Measures of Academic progress (MAP) we get an alternative schedule which cuts out exploratories. Those classes are to help us find what extra classes we want to take in high school, which those classes will help us for our future in the real world. To many hours are lost to tests that can affect our …show more content…

Every class has a different set of standards to teach in literacy the teacher has to teach 32 standards, in math there are 24 standards. That is like impossible for teachers to teach that many things in time for standardized tests and to have taught it well. These tests don’t cover the skills parents really want them to know like teamwork, creativity, how to ask good questions, how to persist with difficult projects and how to apply skills to real-world problems. Thoses test leave out a great deal of material the is taught and will actually help students. Scholars even agree that a single test score does not reliably measure what s student knows. Jahana Hayes a Waterbury Conn. High School teacher honored by President Obama said students should be able to articulate what they learned in an innovative and creative way, and many people agreed with her. John King said the federal education law aimed at improving students math and reading skills, has robbed kids of a full, rich, and well rounded education. Standardized testing has robbed children and teachers of their creativity, and over works their