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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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A standardized test is a test that is supposed to tell the teachers and staff of a certain school whether or not the students have learned what they need to or they can retain the knowledge that they have been taught. “Standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance” (ProCon.org, Con 2). There are many reasons why this statement is true.
Many people tend to agree that standardized testing is not an accurate source to measure the student's ability to retain and use the information they were taught during the school year. For many students, they must retain knowledge for many different classes. The student can also be involved in other organizations. Standardized testing only measures a small portion of what a student learns. Standardized tests only measure knowledge, they do not measure a student’s creativity, curiosity, and other qualities that students have. These tests do not measure a student’s answer to a real world problem. Based on the subject that the test is covering, such as math or reading, the questions are multiple choice which means there is only one right answer. Multiple choice tests teach …show more content…

These tests determine who gets to advance to the next grade level and will be placed in the “advanced” classes. Students get stressed out over the test because they have test anxiety which causes them to do poorly. Different people live in different situations, which could also affect how they do on the test. If the student gets into a fight with his or her parents at home the morning of the test, they are not going to be able to focus on the test. They are going to think about what they could have done or said differently to change the outcome of the argument. Now days, the older the student, the less tests they have to take. This means that they have to take more tests earlier in their high school career rather than spread out, which can become added

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745 Words | 3 Pages

The net result is less wasted instructional time and a simplified way of timeline management. It also gives parents a good idea of how their children are doing as compared to students across the country and locally. This can also allow students’ progress to be tracked over the years. However, when this test is as a tool or indicator to evaluate education performance and to have some sort of accountability for schools and teachers. The problem arises when teachers have "added" pressure of making sure everyone succeeds because of these tests on top of the normal stress and pressure of educating their students.

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191 Words | 1 Pages

When the testing is finished the scores are usually used to compare the performance of individuals in a relative

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1178 Words | 5 Pages

Standardized testing is usually used to compare the performance of individuals in a relative manner. Many people consider standardized testing as an objective way of grading a student, however, it is evident

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994 Words | 4 Pages

Although standardized testing has its cons, it also has pros. For example, Two important things Standardized testing provides is the ability to see students weak areas and progress. Although having the ability to see students weak areas may sound like a good thing, it really isn’t. The ability to see weak areas is moreso a benefit to educators when teaching students so they know what to help students with and fix so students can improve in these areas. But, teachers don’t really help students one on one rather as one big group of up to 30+ students at times.

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1862 Words | 8 Pages

Standardized testing becomes a vast part of a students life, but do these tests pertain to the knowledge they need for life outside of school? Standardized testing presents students with many categories of material, while restricting the amount of time they have to complete a subject. According

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

Standardized tests are “any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from a common bank of questions, in the same way, and that is scored in a ‘standard’ or consistent manner” and are used as an objective way to measure

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1336 Words | 6 Pages

There’s much controversy over standardized testing. Is it too much to ask of students to take standardized testing or is it good for students to be ranked as a whole. From extensive research the information will tell whether it is really causing a problem in the school or not. The questions being touched on are what is standardized testing, and how it is impacting the learning of our country as a whole, and how the practice of standardized testing is different from years past and how does the standardized testing effects students both mentally and physically learning. By finding the answers to these questions the hope is to be able to find what the values of standardized testing are and if it is really helpful to rank the the teacher and students or if it causes teachers to just “teach to the test.”

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822 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized testing has shown that a student does not actually need to understand the information in class, he just needs to memorize it for the test. “Rather than providing the opportunity for students to demonstrate a higher level of reasoning ability, or carry out any form of extended analysis, standardized tests stress a more superficial level of reasoning, and are most typically extensive exercises in short term memory” (“Standardized Testing”). Most colleges require a minimum grade on standardized tests such as the ACT and/or SAT in order for a student to be accepted. Knowing this, students spend much of their time memorizing and studying to make a good grade so that they can get into the school they want. Although it is overused to measure the ability of students, standardized testing does not accurately portray how much a student knows because it creates test anxiety, stress, and an inclination to cheat under pressure.

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1690 Words | 7 Pages

Standardized Tests Are Put to the Test "Believing we can improve schooling with more tests is like believing you can make yourself grow taller by measuring your height," said by Robert Schaeffer, Public Education Director of FairTest. This paints a clear picture of one of today’s most talked about education questions; are standardized tests benificial for our nation’s education? A standardized test is a test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions. As a result, the tests are scored in a consistant manner, meaning a student’s test results can be compared with another group of students. These tests are most commonly seen as a multiple choice test that are given to a large population of students.

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569 Words | 3 Pages

Standardized testing has been shown with research that tests demonstrate that there is no benefit to the students and don't show actual academic performance. Phillip Harris wrote in ¨Standardized Tests Do Not Effectively Measure Student Achievement¨ his argument of the need to abandon the use of standardized tests. “What's more, the scores don't provide very much useful information for evaluating a student's achievement, a teacher's competency, or the success of a particular school or program.”

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935 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the years, standardized testing has become something no student looks forward to. But, there might be deeper reasons as to why they despise it. Standardized tests have been around since the mid-1800s and have been used to measure a students' knowledge and ability to achieve their goals. However, as the year's progress, this form of testing has proven to cause problems. Students, teachers, and schools are all affected by standardized testing and its components in various ways.

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1191 Words | 5 Pages

School’s are using standardized testing for the wrong reason. “A standardized test is any examination that’s administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. There are two major kinds of standardized tests: aptitude tests and achievement tests” (Popham, 1999). The most common examples of aptitude tests are the SAT and the

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2294 Words | 10 Pages

It is most commonly used to measure how much they’ve learned, and if they’ve met the requirements of the district or nation's expectations. With standardized testing being a big part of a student's academic career, it can cause a student to worsen. Due to the use of this testing and its importance of it, students will face a negative effect on their mental well-being. Standardized testing puts stress on students, is unnecessary, and doesn’t help a student learn. With standardized testing, comes the pressure to do well on the test.

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1078 Words | 5 Pages

Standardized tests prove to be ineffective in properly gauging what students actually know and more or less categorize students instead. Students may harbor knowledge but lack the help required to show the depth of their understanding during an assessment and therefore result in being marginalized. Furthermore, on a standardized test, there can only be a singular correct answer. However, this type of mindset could be better when it comes to actual life problems and tribulations.

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1098 Words | 5 Pages

A standardized test, according to W. James Popham of ASCD.org, is “any examination that is administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner.” In standardized testing, examinees are instructed to precisely answer a specific set of questions, which are usually multiple-choices. Although standardized testing is believed to be an objective method to grade students, administers should understand that these tests are not only a waste of time, but also a waste of money. Standardized testing is irrelevant to a student’s education because it is an unreliable way to measure a student’s knowledge, causes stress, and hinders a student’s overall learning potential.

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