Standardized testing
Although many people believe that standardized testing is an accurate measure of student success and college readiness, standardized testing does more harm than good. Supporters of standardized testing believe that it motivates students to excel because it is a huge determining factor in their future. They also view it as a way to measure student achievements against other students on local and national levels. However, standardized testing should be eliminated because it leads to teaching to the test, which causes a loss of learning vital information, it has many negative emotional effects, and it isn’t an accurate representation of the student’s intelligence.
Standardized testing usually leads to “teaching to the test,” which is any method of education focusing on preparing students for a standardized test. When this happens, many other subjects are cut from the schools in order to make room for more reading and math based learning. A survey regarding this subject was given to teachers and 66% said that they felt standardized tests were forcing them to focus on teaching to the test and that other important matter couldn’t be covered because of that. Since 2001, 44% of schools reduced time spent on science, social studies, and the arts by an average of 145 minutes per week. With some much depending on the results of these tests, like school funding, many schools have no
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A 2009 study of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders showed that kids are more anxious for standardized tests than for classroom tests. In the same study, 11% of those students reported severe psychological and physiological symptoms tied to the assessments. Some kids won’t even get out of the car in the morning or go to school during testing time because it brings them so much anxiety. Besides the anxiety aspect, standardized testing can majorly affect kids’ long term achievement, and their self