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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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Over the years, standardized test have become more heavily depended on within the school system. The perspective on this type of testing system is 50/50 when the public perceives its importance. The question is, do these test adequately judge a students ability academically. Also, do they strip teachers of their freedom to teach freely based on the fact they have to teach for the test. When it comes to education as we all know, standardized test dictate the curriculum in the school system (Classroom Assessments for a New Century; one teachers quest to move beyond the bubble test). These test are used around the world in classrooms, for admittance decisions, and evaluations.When looking at these test we have to take into consideration the following: …show more content…

Colleges all around the world look at standardized test to give them insight on a students performance in school and how they will perform in the future as well. They are given to evaluate a students scholar ability with respect to college admissions. They are also given to evaluate how a student is performing in school and how well a teacher is doing his/her job. When looking at these test though, do they really give us a proper evaluation? You get a gross score and that is compared to national norms (Standardized Test Assailed as Unfair by Administrators). The problem with this type of scoring is that not every student falls under the national norm; a student may fall below but still be a very successful and intelligent student. Standardized test are made for a means of evaluation and in some ways the testing is beneficial but in others it is not. According to the authors of the article “Standardized Tests Do Not Effectively Measure Students Achievement” there is an “underlying assumption” surrounding these test. To believe that they give us an understanding of students is a “dangerous illusion” that we are choosing to believe (Standardized Tests Do Not Effectively …show more content…

When teachers are teaching by the test, in fear that their students will not pass, they are putting writing skills, problem solving skills, and real life lessons on the back burner. Kevin Finneren said “ Teachers are worried that a single test will narrow their curriculum and take away from important lessons such as writing and problem solving” (Testy about Testing). When a teacher’s curriculum becomes narrowed all of them will become cookie cutter teachers. Students will have nothing to look forward to when they go to school. Being a student myself, making learning fun is important so that the students stay interested in what is being taught. It is a true fact that “standardized test dictate the curriculum” (Classroom Assessments for a New Centruy, One teachers quest to move beyond the bubble test). Shouldn't a teacher following the guidelines of what a class should learn by the end of the year dictate the curriculum? Yes, it should so that when a student graduates that grade they leave with the knowledge to help succeed in the next school year. As much as students complain about going to school, we really do love it. Every one has a favorite teacher, subject, period and I'm sure its because it has left an imprint in their mind. The love of learning is still there but it is

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Despite its respectable attempt, it is an incredibly flawed method. Standardized tests like the SAT serve one purpose: to compare every student on the same scale on a generic series of questions in order to predict how well a student will perform in college. It disregards a student’s past academic achievements, as well as many other factors that will weigh into a student’s performance. According to Gerald Bracey, a writer from Washington Post as well as a critic of the national education policy, a student’s execution in college cannot be determined by a standardized test because these tests do not assess one’s “creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation… [or] self-discipline,” (Strauss,

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Teachers should be able to teach students, not for the sake of passing an exam, but for the sake of expanding their existent knowledge. There are many students in the state of Texas, as well as the entire nation, that have had their potential overlooked because they did not meet the expectations of standardized testing. Although students are indeed placing emphasis on higher scores for a standardized test, they apparently do not retain the information long enough to make a lasting effect on their knowledge. This is according to a 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution which found that 50-80% of year-over-year test score improvements were temporary and "caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in

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For years, colleges have used standardized testing to determine admissions and scholarships. Colleges should choose another form of examination for students, because the SAT’s are inaccurate measurement of someone’s intelligence. It is a four to five hour timed test that students could prepare for, for months and still come out with a bad score. Some students are not good test takers and this reflects poorly on them. Admissions and scholarships should not weigh on SAT scores so heavily because they don’t determine how strong of a student you are.

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The education system has to equip the students with important things like leadership, creative thinking, and self-awareness. These aspects of education do are measure by these tests, and therefore the students are not fully benefiting from the standardized tests. Most schools in the US have reduced their time from other subjects like arts to concentrate more on reading sciences and mathematics. By doing this, the curriculum is being narrowed and time to come other subjects will have no meaning or less attention in schools. The teachers are forced to concentrate more on one subject that is always difficult for students who neglect other subjects.

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Standardized test scores do not foretell your future. People cannot believe that one assessment will be enough to tell colleges and the government that their applicants and students are going to be successful in their curriculum. For example, I am horrible taking timed, multiple choice test. I panic, get a headache and my stomach craps ups, like if I had someone tying my insides with a rope. I turn red, get hot flashes, and sometimes tear up for no reason.

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Do these very same tests accurately measure our knowledge or do they just they give us our score by how many answers we get right? In my opinion, standardized tests should be graded on how well we answer the questions. Are standardized tests still well written and valid? From experience, the test questions are sometimes not as easy to understand. But most of the questions were simple to read.

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This also shows that there’s an impact on the creativity part of a students when all they do is depend on the standard test that they are given. Some may argue that teaching to the test can be a good thing because it focuses on essential content and skills, eliminates time-wasting activities that don’t produce learning gains and motivates students to excel. Procon.org states that,’93% of studies of students testing, including the use of large-scale and high-stakes standardized tests, found a

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Standardized Testing Do you think students should be tested so much? Students are tested from grade three all the way up to their senior year of High School. Their test are mostly about Reading and Math. Testing so much should be illegal. Standardized Testing should be limited because students become overwhelmed, are robbed of their childhood and has not achieved anything from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) which was passed in 2002.

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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.

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Diane Ravitch, PhD, states,” The tests are meaningless because the scores provide no information about what the students learned and didn’t learn. The teacher is not allowed to find out what the students got wrong.” The tests have no point in being there, because if the teachers can not see what the student got wrong, then they can’t help them learn anything. Teachers should be able to see what the students got on the standardized test, even though they are no help, but otherwise, the student will keep having the same problem over and over again, because they are failing the same area of

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Even people's emotional states would impact the way they score. Furthermore, standardized tests only look at a small portion of the education system. Many parents are willing to pay large sums in order to ensure that their child/children attend better schools. This may result in an influx of wealthy or more educated people into one area; creating inequality as the “good” only gets

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Certainly, some people say that standardized testing is the only way to determine growth and achievement within students. But, these tests don’t usually provide an entire measure of educational attainment. They don’t give attributes such as a sense of wonder, leadership, compassion, curiosity, and critical thinking. Daniel Koretz, a psychometrician stated, “…tests can measure only a portion of the goals of education, which are necessarily broader and more inclusive than the test could possibly be”(humbleisd.net). Standardized tests can at best only measure if a student is good at their core classes.

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Many of the high standards and accountability has turned tests into boredom, stress, and filling in the blanks (Wetzel). There has become the overemphasis on testing, and it has made teachers result of getting rid of projects and activities that give the opportunities for students to be creative, not they have been given scripted curriculum (Wetzel). Many of this doesn’t show achievement and provide reliable performance (Levin-Epstein). There is also issues with the questionability of the validity of some questions and, test quality (Levin-Epstein). There are also times where there are long waits for results.

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The US Department of Education believes that if teachers thoroughly cover the material that will be on these tests, then students will have mastered the material on the test long before they take it. Proponents say that standardized testing does not narrow the curriculum, but instead focuses it on important basic skills all students need in order to be successful. They believe that, in compliance with education policies, teachers will not be drilling students to memorize materials in order to obtain good score but are instead thoughtfully instructing students a curriculum that is aligned with the state standards. Those that oppose the use of standardized tests, however, believe that a great deal of class time is being consumed by monotonous test prep. Some schools will devote portions of the academic year solely to preparation for these exams to ensure that students score well and to ensure that the school receives its funding.

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