Standardized testing has become a part of the way students are educated in the state of Texas. There are some people that believe standardized testing as necessary in order to prepare the student for the real world. Students should not be taught in order to get a high score on an exam, but instead for the sake of furthering the knowledge that they will take with them for the rest of their lives. I believe that there should be an alternative to standardized testing because it does not accurately portray the student's intelligence and potential in a real world setting.
Standardized testing is considered to be a linear approach towards assessing a student's learning ability. According to a quote from ProCon, by Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, a researcher of education, "qualities that standardized tests cannot measure include 'creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline, leadership, civic-mindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefulness,
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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