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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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Standardized Testing The date is 1 June, 2016 and it is exam week. The time of the year where the Carteret County School Board, Croatan High School Administration and teachers are depending on students for the school's, teacher’s, administration and board’s reputation for the upcoming year. Will the school be in the top ten again? Will they be an “A+” school? This all depends on the students. I know I’m under stress, I wonder if anyone has taken the time to consider the amount of stress the students and teachers are under? The state tells the school administration that if test scores are not “favorable,” their accreditation will be pulled and they will bring shame to the community. Then, this puts pressure on the administration and results …show more content…

According to Phillip Harris, Joan Harris and Bruce Smith, “Gerald Bracey's (an American education policy researcher) lists some of the biggies that are generally not measured in standardized tests: creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline, leadership, civic-mindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefulness, sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty, and integrity.” If all of these attributes that reflect success are not tested, why are standardized tests, such as SAT and ACT, so important towards college acceptance? These college entry exams inadvertently create reasons for students to be superficial thinkers and ignore the characteristics that lead to success. According to Popham, “Between 50 and 80 percent of what was measured on the Final Course Exam tests was not suitably addressed in the classroom textbook’s.” Not only are students not being tested on the attributes of success but they are also, for the most part, not being tested on what they are learning in the classroom. Standardized tests are a terrible use of measuring students’ abilities, and therefore has led to being a problem with measuring teachers abilities in the …show more content…

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.” For instance, you may have a great teacher, but the student may be completely unwilling to learn. Another example is a student may not be in the best state of mind the day they take the test: not feeling well, broke up with boyfriend/girlfriend, had a fight with their parent, etc. According to Valerie Strauss, “Standardized achievement tests provide minimal to no useful feedback to classroom teachers and radically limit teacher ability to adapt to learner differences.” Teachers are not receiving feedback from these standardized tests; therefore, they cannot address where the students deficiencies are.. Due to the lack of feedback,

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Despite its respectable attempt, it is an incredibly flawed method. Standardized tests like the SAT serve one purpose: to compare every student on the same scale on a generic series of questions in order to predict how well a student will perform in college. It disregards a student’s past academic achievements, as well as many other factors that will weigh into a student’s performance. According to Gerald Bracey, a writer from Washington Post as well as a critic of the national education policy, a student’s execution in college cannot be determined by a standardized test because these tests do not assess one’s “creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation… [or] self-discipline,” (Strauss,

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“ Standardized test items are not parallel with typical classroom skills and behaviors. Due to the fact that questions have to be generalizable to the entire population, most items assess general knowledge and understanding. ”(Hurst) These tests limit many things and cause a huge disadvantage to not only students, but to the schools as well. Scores don't provide very much information when evaluating a student's achievement, a teacher's competency, or the success of a particular school or program.

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Even so, such tests have their uses.” (Starr, J.P.,2017) As a superintendent of a school district, Starr realizes that while standardized testing is “meaningless in the real world” (Leadership, 2017) it is helpful to evaluate classes, schools, and school districts. Standardized test scores do not determine the worth of a student, but the quality of education the students are receiving in their school, school district, or state. (Starr,J.P.,2017)

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Michelle Obama famously said: “If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that.” I too struggle with taking tests, which often limits my opportunities to pursue academic programs that require these scores. Unfortunately, today we are slowly moving towards a school system that values high test scores more than anything; testing has become the norm of education. According to a Columbia University report, standardized testing is widely used because it provides a quick and easy way for educators to get an evaluation of a student’s abilities.

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Standardized tests are assessments put together by experts in the subject and published for use in many different schools districts nationwide. Since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was enacted, most states across the United States have adopted standardized test in grade schools. One of the most significant advantage of standardized tests is teachers and schools are held accountable. Educators and schools are responsible for imparting students with the knowledge required to do well in these standardized tests. Standardized scores are public record bringing the focus on teachers and schools that perform poorly .The

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“Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts. ”-Albert Einstein. Although standardized testing should reflect the curriculum and cognitive improvement over time, others may see it as a disadvantage to schools and students, and many are finding that teachers are having to “Teach the Test” because of the pressure of wanting students to pass. Upon placing standardized tests in schools, teachers have felt that their students are improving over time. Despite the fact that students are feeling the pressure from testing, and some parents don’t believe the tests are showing real proof of improvement.

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There are certain qualities that standardized tests cannot measure, such as critical thinking, creativity, motivation,intricacy,lucidness.vivaciousness,fidelity,resilience, curiosity, persistence, reliability, endurance, self-discipline, courage, integrity etc. Standardized questions are general in nature and so the tests do not really assess skill. What standardized tests do is assess the general knowledge and understanding of students rather than their actual ability. Standardized testing often leads to a decrease in classroom time dedicated to teaching and learning more traditional subjects. The curriculum is drastically narrowed.

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