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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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Did you know that the United States of America has dropped 13 places from 18th to 31st in the world ranking for math in 2009? In 2011 Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, stated, “...almost 82% of U.S schools were failing by the end of 2012.” The main cause of the drop in ranking is due to standardized testing. School systems force students to take biased standardized tests that judges them based on their scores rather than their intellectual capabilities, creativity, and abstract ideas. As a result, top universities accept students mainly for their test scores rather than truly seeing a student’s growth. In general, it is a common misconception that students who do not perform well on tests are less capable than their counterparts. The …show more content…

They are not properly used to measure the growth of students and stress students to the point where they are sacrificing their personal learning in order to get a certain grade on an exam. According to Barack Obama, “School districts use no more than 2% of class time.” He believes that teachers use too much instructional time to get students ready for tests which is taking time away to actually learn the material required and designed for the courses. In order to solve this issue, Obama calls to reduce the amount of testing there is in schools in order for each and every student to learn all the material needed instead of focusing on tests and preparation. The National Education Association (NEA) proposed to congress to change the way schools deal with testing to limit the amount of tests taken in elementary and middle schools in order to eliminate stress and increase student progress. They proposed on improving the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act to give more time for a quality education and rather than wasting time preparing students for tests. Reducing the amount of standardized tests is successful in both ways that allows students to improve in school and earn a better and enriching education …show more content…

Students think that they need to receive good scores on tests which leads to massive amounts of test anxiety.“The New York Performance Standards Consortium, an alliance of 28 public high schools, use performance based assessments in place of standardized exams.” The New York Performance Standards Consortium created a new and innovative way to measure student growth without added stress and nervousness and reduce wasting classroom time. In addition, there are many instances of where we see minority graduation rates improving immensely.“In 2011, 86% of African American and 90% of Latino Americans, graduates of the Consortium schools, were accepted to college. National averages are only 37% and 43%, respectively. 93 % of consortium graduates remain enrolled in four year colleges after the first two years, compared with an average of 81% nationally.” The consortium alternative of standardized testing in high schools has shown dramatic improvements of college acceptances and graduation rates of minorities in New York. Overall, alternative methods should replace standardized testing since it is more successful and less

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894 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized tests are one of the most popular ways schools attempt to evaluate academic intelligence of students, school districts, and teachers. These tests are used more specifically to evaluate student performance in the education system by testing their abilities in mathematics, english and sciences. By giving every student the same test, they are setting a standard idea for how well every student should score on the test, such as the SAT or the ACT, no matter the school or educational process they are receiving. Allowing every student to take the exact same test, gives the state a way to generalize student’s academic intelligence without having to do much work to make the testing one hundred percent fair. Standardized testing in schools should no longer be required because it discriminates against the less wealthy families, does not effectively measure achievement and becomes a distraction to the student’s learning environment.

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475 Words | 2 Pages

More often than not, children who fail these tests can not afford necessary materials to be able to get a quality educations. Like Kohn said, “guess who can afford better test preparation” (Kohn 601), just like poor families, there are poorly funded schools that also can not afford to give the students the education they need. These are obstacles that are frequently looked over by college admission counselors. “ The more that poor children fill in worksheets (in an effort to raise their test scores) the further they fall behind affluent kids who are more likely to get lessons that help them understand ideas” (Kohn 601). Even if there is a good effort to get these students prepared for the tests, it results in being behind on their schoolwork.

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895 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized tests are very common in today’s modern society. They are used as a tool to measure a person’s performance and indicate how their estimated performance will be in a college class. Every year hundreds of students take the ACT or SAT in order to get accepted into their college of choice and to receive scholarships, but they fail to see the problems with these standardized tests. As more and more people take these tests, the national average score falls causing doubt in the extremely important system. This is leading people to question whether or not the ACT and SATs are accomplishing what they were created to do.

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501 Words | 3 Pages

“Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.” This quotation by Diane Ravitch nearly perfectly describes the ludicrosity of modern standardized tests. Students may achieve elite grades, volunteer, and participate in a variety of extracurriculars throughout high school, but all of these elements may be for naught if their ACT or SAT score is deemed unsatisfactory. The college application process is demanding enough without the added burden of inessential and unfair standardized tests. The ACT and SAT may put unnecessary stress on high schoolers, because they are an unfair representation of intelligence and education and are a large element of the college admission process.

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1718 Words | 7 Pages

Since the No Child Left Behind Act was mandated in 2002, test scores in our schools have steadily declined. In spite of this, proponents argue that standardized testing is an objective and effective method to measure student achievement and to hold teachers accountable. Unfortunately, this is the farthest thing from the truth. Standardized tests are neither fair nor effectual, there overuse and misuse promotes a narrow curriculum which forces teachers to "teach to the test" instead of teaching to the student. This instruction style inhibits creativity and undermines our country's ability to produce innovators and critical thinkers.

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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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866 Words | 4 Pages

The No Child Left Behind act mandates that all students have set goals, leading to these tests. Standardized Tests should be eliminated because they do not measure student achievement accurately, they do not motivate students to try, and they have a negative impact on graduation rates.

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448 Words | 2 Pages

Us students slipped from 18th in the world in math in 2000 to 31st place in 2009 (Procon.org) Similar decline for science and reading. This shows how Standardized Testing has not helped us in our

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783 Words | 4 Pages

Expensive SAT books and preparation courses with private tutors are a good indicator of inequality in our education system. But in the meantime, these tests provide accurate comparisons between different sub-groups. The sub-groups provide schools with data on socioeconomic status to develop better programs that will help improve their scores. Unfortunately educational inequality exists everywhere and some kids go to private schools, while others don’t have enough money to buy books. But only standardized testing can help these students who are in need, by developing services directed at improving their

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902 Words | 4 Pages

No Child Left Behind, a bill passed in 2002 which required all states to set goals and standard that would follow the guidelines of a national plan. The primary way to assure that all students met these goals was through a standardized test which would be administered once at the end of each school year, but the problem stands that standardized tests are an inadequate method of tracking the progress of students. In its current form standardized tests are designed to only measure proficiency in math, English, social studies, and science. As stated by Gerald W. Bracey, PhD "Standardized tests cannot measure qualities like creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy,

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1012 Words | 5 Pages

Standardized testing has not improved student’s achievements according to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Testing has been a long occuring teaching technique, which dates all the way back to the Han Dynasty. Although over half of public school educators think that standardized testing is the best way of measuring students’ knowledge, there are facts that show standardized tests are not that great for students; such as the advantages that good test taking students may have or the stress that standardized tests put on students. Standardized testing is beneficial to students, teachers, and parents. There are ways that parents could help either their offsprings by studying the test with them or often teachers get involved and email the parents of the students the review or

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1309 Words | 6 Pages

Have you ever thought of what our education system would be like without standardized testing? Henry Chuancy and Wilbur Bender invented standardized testing, the SAT specifically, in order to identify the gifted and talented students (Tozer, 2002, p.231). The Early Cold War had just begun and The United States believed the key to winning it was detecting the gifted and talented students and grouping them so they could excel above the rest (Tozer, 2002, p.231). In this paper, I will argue that standardized testing is needed in our education system. As stressful as standardized testing can be, I believe it is a crucial part of today’s education system and allows students to be measured by intelligence.

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1260 Words | 6 Pages

Students begin to give up and look for quick and obvious answers due to the lack of understanding or care for these exams. Studies show that those with high standardized test scores tend to carry these superficial thinking characteristics. This shows that scores do not measure one's knowledge because those

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831 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized tests were nationally implemented in 2002, when former president George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act. To this day, the assessments are still being implemented in public schools, causing much controversy and problems. Because standardized tests are failing to achieve their purposes by inaccurately measuring learning proficiency and restraining student growth, alternatives are necessary. Before addressing the issues with standardized examinations, it is important to consider their purposes. Aaron Churchill, research director for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, discloses that the tests measure student proficiency, thus providing a definition of “student achievement” for pupils and teachers (1).

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865 Words | 4 Pages

Nelson Mandella Essay Nelson Mandella fight for freedom created a positive legacy. Brief intro of Mandela and his achievements Nelson was born with the birth name ‘Rolihlahla’ meaning ‘troublemaker’, which happened to blend well with his personality over the growing years as Nelson Mandela caused a lot of upset to the government of South Africa, through this anti-apartheid movement and revolutionary ways. Nelson mandella was born on the 18th of july 1918 and died on the 5th of december 2013. Nelsons served 27 years of his life in imprisonment. In 1993 Nelson was Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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