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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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Introduction:
A standard test is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, as “a test (as of intelligence, achievement, or personality) whose reliability has been established by obtaining an average score of a significantly large number of individuals for use as a standard of comparison.” (“Standard Test”, 2015) Standard tests are often given in highly regulated situations to assess the general knowledge and/or abilities of its testers, among other reasons. Tests have to meet certain criteria through protocol and have certain characteristics to be considered as such. The similarities among the tests include a strict framework of testing conditions, giving each tester the same questions, set of instructions, time frame for completion, and …show more content…

In addition, it is not uncommon to have some questions answered with a 1-5 rating, known as the Likert Scale, where 5 is rated highly and 1 is rated low.
Standardized tests are often found in the public school system and, most commonly, administered in group settings. In some situations, some of these tests are given on a one-on-one basis, where there is one instructor and one student (Dolezalek & Sayre). This is frequently done with children who may be learning impaired, challenged, disabled or …show more content…

French, Italian, English and Spanish students have been subject to standardized testing, as a means to graduate and earn advanced degrees, since the eleventh and twelfth centuries (Dolezalek & Sayre).
Although, standardized tests are so culturally rich and long standing, their usage lacked in the United States until the early-to-mid 1900s. Introduction to America came after Lewis Terman’s creation of the Stanford-Binet Scale, a revised standard scale of intelligence quotient (IQ) test, and the first IQ test for elementary school aged children.
Standardized testing first came into the American school system in the early 1930s. Iowa was the first administering state, soon to be followed by the entire nation. (Dolezalek & Sayre).
American Standards:
In America today, standardized testing is not only the norm, but an educational government mandate. An instrument for judgment and consideration; used to determine how one's performance is perceived in general, the means to find an overall average of comparison, and a basis for prediction and

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