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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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These days if a school’s standardized test scores are high, people assume the school’s staff is effective and the students are smart. If the scores are low, one assumes the staff is ineffective and the students don’t work hard enough. These evaluations are incorrect.
Speaking as a student who has had to take a test every year since grade school, standardized test do not measure a student’s knowledge. Tests do not allow a student to show their full potential. These tests make students anxious, thus they collapse under pressure. When taking these tests, students are taken out of their normal classroom and are put into a quiet room and are made to sit for what seems like forever only to struggle with subjects that teachers have not discussed. …show more content…

Logically speaking, the monkey is the only animal that can climb the tree. All of these animals have different purposes and none of them are capable of doing the exact same thing as the other. The same logic applies to students. Every student has a different mindset and one may be better in a certain subject than another, so how much is a test really proving? Does a student not passing a test show that they do not pay attention in class? A test only proves the knowledge that one lacks; and maybe the student does not lack the knowledge because they don’t pay attention but because they just aren’t strong in a subject. Is it necessary for a student who excels in writing essays be able to pass a test for Earth and Space …show more content…

A student should not have to take a test to prove what they know. DaMia Breathett, a Richardson High School senior states, “I cannot tell you most of the information I covered in my American History class a year ago because it was not interesting to me. Did I pass the class? Yes, with an “A” actually, but only because I memorized everything we studied so after I took the test I found the information to be useless.” Admittedly, there has to be some way to judge the competency of a school to actually teach, but standardized test scores leave a lot to be desired. Intelligence can be measured across many interest, and standardized test only test for standard

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As I start walking down the cold and dark stairs of the catacombs I think to myself, why did I want to see the Amontillado? Maybe he didn’t buy it maybe he did? My drunk thoughts really got to me and I was just confusing myself. I want to stop walking because I am afraid that he might do something. “Montressor, I need to take a break from walking my back is starting to hurt”, I said trying to sound hurt.

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1189 Words | 5 Pages

She stated that these “high-stakes” test will not reflect his true abilities due to pressure. Some educators agree that the testing format from standardized tests are not ideal. However, there were other educators who disagree stating that these tests are needed to ensure that educators are doing their job and for student to absorb the material (Tony 8). What the standardized tests already ensure are the unbiased and reliable way in measuring a student’s ability and a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom. Having said that, making stricter standards and increasing testings are way to better the student in preparation for college.

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763 Words | 4 Pages

Typically Math, Reading, and Writing, standardized tests consist of a timed test with around 40-50 questions on average. Although standardized tests can easily evaluate students, ultimately, standardized tests don’t benefit the student because kids perform worse under pressure, teachers only teach the skills required for the test, and the tests don’t fully reflect the potential of the student. Standardized tests become daunting in the eyes of the student which results in stress and lower test scores. Students develop anxiety in order to remember

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462 Words | 2 Pages

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

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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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730 Words | 3 Pages

Standardized tests are said to be the easiest and most efficient way to determine if teachers have taught standards and whether or not students have met standards, but the tests are not a fair measurement. According to Popham, “Employing standardized achievement tests to ascertain educational quality is like measuring temperature with a tablespoon. Tablespoons have a different measurement mission than indicating how hot or cold something is. Standardized achievement tests have a different measurement mission than indicating how good or bad a school/teacher is.” There is too much room for error to determine if a teacher is considered “good” or “bad.”

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1060 Words | 5 Pages

A test that is not made for every kind of student should not determine the academic achievement of every kind of

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765 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized tests have played a role in schools across America since the 1800’s, only dwindling citizens of their education and self esteem. Everything a child has learned seems to be measured within a few hours of filling in bubbles. Countless hours of no sleep wondering how to prepare for a test that there is simply no way to prepare for, this is what students undergo year after year. It is time to face reality and take a stand against standardized testing, these tests do not approve students’ achievements, cost too much money, decrease the health of students, and schools spend too much time preparing for them. Do not approve students achievements

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1859 Words | 8 Pages

In America, this happens every day. Although many people believe standardized testing is a justified way of measuring intelligence and grading students, a growing number of people in America feel that standardized test taking is biased, inaccurate, and an ineffective way of measuring student intelligence. Some parents

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552 Words | 3 Pages

Diane Ravitch, PhD, states,” The tests are meaningless because the scores provide no information about what the students learned and didn’t learn. The teacher is not allowed to find out what the students got wrong.” The tests have no point in being there, because if the teachers can not see what the student got wrong, then they can’t help them learn anything. Teachers should be able to see what the students got on the standardized test, even though they are no help, but otherwise, the student will keep having the same problem over and over again, because they are failing the same area of

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1345 Words | 6 Pages

Why Standardized Testing is not an Accurate Depiction of Intelligence Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines standardized testing as a test of intelligence whose reliability has been established by obtaining an average score of a significantly large number of individuals for use as a standard of comparison (Merriam-Webster). This means that it is a test used for to determine someone’s intelligence by comparing scores to an average obtained from a large population. Currently, sixty percent of colleges say that test scores are an important factor in student admissions (Morse). Standardized tests are traditionally multiple-choice but can also have true-false, short-answer, and essay questions. When people hear “standardized test” they tend to immediately

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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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935 Words | 4 Pages

As lots would say, “Standardized tests don’t necessarily measure a student’s knowledge and skills.

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1191 Words | 5 Pages

Standardized testing has become one of the most popular types of testing in U.S. public schools to date. Students take numerous standardized tests throughout their childhood schooling. (Studies show that a typical student takes an average of 112 mandated standardized tests between Pre-K and 12th grade.) While standardized testing is one of the main procedures that Universities use to judge incoming students, it is not proven to be the most effective way to convey a student’s actual intelligence level. The U.S. should not focus so heavily on standardized testing because it is not a complete accurate measurement of a student’s intelligence.

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1098 Words | 5 Pages

To begin with, standardized tests are not wholly reflective of a student’s knowledge.

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