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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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The act of child abuse can be viewed on a broad spectrum, and standardized testing is one of them. According to research done by Council of the Great City Schools students take on average 113 tests between pre-k and 12th grade. The large number "113" is scary for someone who has a long time before they finish the 12th grade. Standardized testing is a pointless experience to face that doesn't provide an effective way to improve instruction or performance and here is why; Testing does not provide an effective analysis of an individual student’s academic abilities, it stresses the student and the teacher, and the stakes are incredibly high. As a subject of standardized testing I can verify that standardized test are one of the most stressful experiences …show more content…

The test is used to determine graduation, promotion to the next grade, entrance to gifted programs, and many other things. The high stakes of the test are horrible in their ability to finalize such decisions, even with their lack of measuring academic abilities, and creation of an unhealthy stressful environment. "Currently, 17 states require students to pass a test to graduate, and 7 more are planning such test" The National Center for Fair and Open Testing pointed out in one of their online articles about high-stake testing. Research has shown that high-stake testing causes damage to education and students. Standardize test practically punishes low-income families and families with children in school who learn English as a second language. The stakes are higher for these two individual cases alone. Standardized graduation test also lead to higher dropout rates, and this is certainly not the goal of any hardworking student or parent. The ACT is a prime example of high-stake testing in the U.S. standardized test culture. In the survey of colleges the ACT score of an individual student was ranked as the second most important thing colleges looked at following grades. This shows that the vast future of any individual ranging from those who don't test well, to those not able to afford higher preparation rely on one miniscule test to define their opportunities in life. With no way around this test, this is further proof of the overpowering ability of standardized test in

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135 Words | 1 Pages

In America, there is quite a lengthy history of standardized testing. It all began in 1838 when the American education system began to form ideas of having tests that would be transformed into formal measures of student academic achievement. They were originally created to hopefully show student improvement and academic knowledge, which is also their most common use up to today. The commonly dreaded standardized test, the ACT, was created in order to help more colleges improve their enrollment numbers, and colleges needed a new standardized test in order to do so. But lately, these forms of standardized testing seem to be causing damage to students.

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1754 Words | 8 Pages

These standardized tests are severely damaging the educational system. There is an extremely high budget, and high stakes achievement that rides on your test scores. Although all states use some form of standardized testing, the testing proves to be inefficient, and should be eliminated. As stated above standardized testing proves to be very stressful on the test takers.

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

Furthermore, children are being robbed of their childhoods by standardized testing, which is why this can lead to stress and altered moods. (CS) Hence, all standardized testing should be removed from school because they cause pressure, stress, and

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544 Words | 3 Pages

Standardized Tests Are standardized tests supposed to control children's lives? Had the creators of the very same tests plained on child stress and counties failing to keep up? Some people support standardized tests and others believe it to be a wast of time and money. I myself believe standardized tests shouldn't be the judge of a child's way of life. It has been said that U.S students have performed poorly in math then the rest of the world.

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501 Words | 3 Pages

“Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.” This quotation by Diane Ravitch nearly perfectly describes the ludicrosity of modern standardized tests. Students may achieve elite grades, volunteer, and participate in a variety of extracurriculars throughout high school, but all of these elements may be for naught if their ACT or SAT score is deemed unsatisfactory. The college application process is demanding enough without the added burden of inessential and unfair standardized tests. The ACT and SAT may put unnecessary stress on high schoolers, because they are an unfair representation of intelligence and education and are a large element of the college admission process.

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1147 Words | 5 Pages

Standardized Tests Should one bad day affect how an individual’s life might turn out to be in the long run? Students are waiting eagerly for the dreadful moment the mailman arrives with their test results. An academic future is contrived through years of dedication and passionate motivation towards a successful life. For years the ACT’s have been sprouting many heated debates. Many began to question whether it was equitable to use the results of one test to define one’s whole academic ability throughout their school years.

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788 Words | 4 Pages

By determining the growth, a standard curriculum can be set at a pace that is beneficial to the education of America. While this aspect of standardized tests seems positive, there are some areas of the tests that many people have found negative and even detrimental. It has been found that these tests can cause a large amount of stress and anxiety for the students taking them because of the pressure to do well on them. In the article “Standardized Testing in Kindergarten,” from National Association for the Education of Young Children, coauthors Stephanie Feeney and Nancy Freeman discuss the issues of standardized testing in Kindergarten. They state standardized testing as a large ethical issue that breaks the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct.

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498 Words | 2 Pages

All in all, the obsession with testing is robbing children of their childhoods. It’s easy for some people to think that these tests are helpful. People like this claim that the parents approve of these tests. Others say that standardized tests are reliable and measure student achievement.

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812 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized Testing Anyone who has ever taken any sort of standardized test knows that they can be stressful, costly, time consuming, and can even cause weaknesses in the education system. Standardized tests have been around since the mid 1800s, however, The No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2002 requires students in all 50 states to test annually. There are multiple arguments on whether or not these tests are helpful. The main purpose is to provide all children with an equal opportunity to obtain a quality education.

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1359 Words | 6 Pages

“The average student in America’s big-city schools takes some 112 mandatory standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and the end of twelfth grade - an average of about eight a year.” (Strauss) FairTest explains who is most often hurt by these testing practices; students from low-income and minority-group backgrounds, English language learners, and students with disabilities, are more likely to be denied diplomas, retained in grade, placed in a lower track, or unnecessarily put in remedial education programs. There are hundreds of articles and research showing these harmful effects of the overload of testing in U.S. public schools. Harmful testing policies also raise questions about it hindering teaching practices. All research points

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1690 Words | 7 Pages

Some oppenants may argue that standardized tests help schools see whether a child is at grade level and how he or she is preforming relative to other children in the next class, according to educationpost.org. However, standardized tests only measure inteligence, and most of the time inaccurately; the tests do not measure other subjects that are important in life, for example character and social skills. As said by a passionate, outspoke blogger on huffintongpost.org, “these tests strip you of your identity and you suddenly become a barcode. None of your achievements or ambitions in life matter, and these tests do not measure your personality.” In other words, tests do not measure how responsible you are, how kind you are or what social skills you have.

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1309 Words | 6 Pages

Children are being hurt today because they're passing the tests, and the tests are not recognizing that they cannot do what they need to do." (Merrow, 2001). For instance, if a student continually struggles on the math portion of the standardized test, he or she will know where they need extra assistance. On the other hand, if a student is continually scoring high in certain areas or all areas, they are probably not being challenged; consequently, they are not reaching their full potential. Standardized tests gives insight as to where a student stands compared to the rest of the nation.

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980 Words | 4 Pages

These factors demonstrate that this source of testing is not an accurate representation of a student’s intellectual ability; therefore, students pursuit for higher education should not be dictated by one test. Ultimately, standardized tests, such as the ACT, should not control a student’s ability to pursue higher education. Even though institutions view these test scores to decide a student’s eligibility, the ACT does not determine how a student will succeed in a college or university. Nevertheless, while students are required to take these test to graduate high school, institutions should consider more than test scores and not let the ACT be the determining factor in a student’s true ability.

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1006 Words | 5 Pages

I was ready when I had to take a four-hour exam ACT on a Saturday morning, and yet I was already filled with anxiety. I was thoroughly filling out my test sheet on time and answering most of the question that I might guess correctly. Afterward, I was exhausted and anxious to see if I made a score that I could be proud to put on a college application. Now, why are these universities are still obsessed with putting standardized testing on their applications? Although standardized testing may be beneficial in some cases, they are not a good, trustworthy indicator of intelligence, and it should not be a factor that matters in a college application.

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1285 Words | 6 Pages

The Downfall of Standardized Testing Adccording to a recent report, “42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science, and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses” (“ACT Test Scores” par. 3). In 2022, “ACT scores were at an average of 19.8, which were the lowest they had been in 30 years” (“ACT Test Scores” par. 1). The school system has failed students by allowing teachers to “teach the test” rather than teach students how to understand and comprehend the material. Therefore, standardized tests are an unfair way to measure a student’s academic performance because of outside factors, the impacts of high-stakes testing,

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