Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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Standardized testing is starting to not be the way to test the skills and intelligence of students. Standardized tests do not show what a student understands and learns, but only prove how well a student does on a generic test. Schools are supposed to prepare students for life, and with the standardized tests, students are getting cheated out of a proper education and forced to improve their test skills. Too much time and energy to succeed is being diverted to standardized tests. Standardized testing is a presently flawed way of testing the skills of students today.
Too much time is being used to prepare students for standardized tests. Parents should care about what the schools are sacrificing to focus on raising test scores. “Schools all over the country are cutting back on and some are even eliminating programs in the arts. Recess for young children, field trips, electives in high school, class meetings, …show more content…

Standardized tests should be used on an informative basis to gauge what is going on in a district. Not to make decisions about individuals. In order to achieve this as sampling is equally effective as testing every student. If standardized testing was employed only as a means of knowing where schools are in comparison to other schools, many of the problems with standardized testing would be nonexistent (Gardner 78). Schools would not feel the necessity to teach students to do well on the tests, allowing teachers to teach the students as normal. And allowing the students to apply what they learn in the classroom to the test. Furthermore, students and teachers alike would not feel the pressure to cheat on the standardized tests since rewards or punishments would not eliminated into the results.
“The current emphasis on standardized testing offers an environment that is far too rigid and fundamental to allow low-SES students to excel” (Harris 94). Harris