ipl-logo

Arguments Against Standardized Testing In Schools

944 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Advantages and disadvantages of standardized tests

The measurement of intelligence is a debate that has endured through much of man’s time on Earth. Certainly, there are a variety of opinions regarding even the most specific metrics, one of which is academically-based testing. Testing intelligence now has become multidimensional in schools, migrating from a strictly test based system to an interactive platform where students are guided through project based learning, comprehensively assessing intelligence and capability.

Lately, kids have not been getting the same message that adults got in the past. Taking a test nowadays is an almost traumatic experience, a cause of anxiety. Such an endeavour was less daunting in previous generations. Since then, schools have been under scrutiny for placing students under unnecessary duress, triggering a variety of negative emotional responses.Public Affairs Research poll found that 75% of parents say standardized tests "are a solid measure of their children's abilities" and 69% …show more content…

Learning how to cope with stress, and correlate it to a school environment is one of the keys in making the transition to college and so on and so forth. Prominent testing critic Diane Ravitch, Research Professor of Education at New York University, concedes standardized testing has value: "Testing... is not the problem... information derived from tests can be extremely valuable, if the tests are valid and reliable."Certainly, the academic peak of a person can vary from person to person, standardized tests allow students to show their strengths and bring themselves to their peak through rigorous academic activity. According to the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, multiple-choice questions can provide "highly reliable test scores" and an "objective measurement of student

Show More
Related
1708 Words | 7 Pages

Many people have wished at some point there weren’t any rules, or have wondered about the consequences when there aren’t any rules. Rules wouldn’t have been devised if it weren’t for the safety of people. The lack of structure in a society could only destroy it. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding describes how the kids started with a strong desire for a structural society but fell apart as conflicts started to generate. The conch showed a strong sign of civilization; it brought the people together and as a group.

Read More
512 Words | 3 Pages

No one ever said school was easy. It takes quite a bit of hard work and preparation from both the students and teachers. All within a school year there are different homework, assignments, projects, tests, quizzes, presentations and much more to try and fit into an already busy course schedule. To add to that the Education Reform Law of 1993 was introduced to schools, which required that all public school students have to be tested in the subjects of English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science and Technology Engineering. Those set of tests are called Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and they are meant to measure students performance based on the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework.

Read More
742 Words | 3 Pages

Many students are smart and understand the content, but it doesn't show on test scores (Gregory J. Cizek, 2001). In essence, testing brings out stress in even the brightest of students, messing with their heads come test day. The facts show that from the 50 states, 700 school districts claim that standardardized tests are causing greater anxiety than the average everyday assessments (Joseph Spector, 2015). In conclusion, student achievement

Read More
859 Words | 4 Pages

World domination. It may simply begin through the depths of an evil scientist, but in reality, standardized tests are the culprit. Standardized Testing: two words that as soon as teachers, their students, and administrators hear this, they fret. The day where all outstanding abilities acquired throughout the year is assessed at once. All this joyful news of how standardized testing supposedly creates miracles of our knowledge, increasing student achievement, may be proven wrong or right, but that is not our deepest concerns.

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

Not only does the school system hurt the concept of individuality in personal expression, but it also encourages higher-ups to think of the student body as a sort of group itself, ignoring the basic needs of each distinct student. When kids are constantly grouped together, it becomes difficult to differentiate herd mentality from individual thinking. Kids often don’t know that such an idea can hurt them because they have been taught from such a young age that there is supposed to be a “standard” when it comes to grading and grades. Standardized testing promotes the culture of thought that there is supposed to be a “good” and a “bad” when it comes to ways and results of learning. According to source C, these testing methods are started as early as kindergarten-- a time

Read More
885 Words | 4 Pages

State standardized tests are exams students take to assess their schools, teachers, and what they learned in their year. Many parents and teachers deem these tests useless and see it as an unnecessary stress added to their child’s life. Students should not be taking this exam because it causes a major curriculum gaps between students, causes stress and loss of interest in school, and after almost a full year of learning, this test is supposed to determine a student 's knowledge of the year’s curriculum. Although some say this test prepares students for college, the stress and loss of interest in school caused by this test and test prep can affect student’s mental health and grades. State tests cause stress and anxiety in students, especially lower performing students because of the pressure of making sure all students, regardless of ability, reaches the same level.

Read More
544 Words | 3 Pages

Standardized Tests Are standardized tests supposed to control children's lives? Had the creators of the very same tests plained on child stress and counties failing to keep up? Some people support standardized tests and others believe it to be a wast of time and money. I myself believe standardized tests shouldn't be the judge of a child's way of life. It has been said that U.S students have performed poorly in math then the rest of the world.

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

The act of child abuse can be viewed on a broad spectrum, and standardized testing is one of them. According to research done by Council of the Great City Schools students take on average 113 tests between pre-k and 12th grade. The large number "113" is scary for someone who has a long time before they finish the 12th grade. Standardized testing is a pointless experience to face that doesn't provide an effective way to improve instruction or performance and here is why; Testing does not provide an effective analysis of an individual student’s academic abilities, it stresses the student and the teacher, and the stakes are incredibly high. As a subject of standardized testing I can verify that standardized test are one of the most stressful experiences

Read More
885 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized Testing. Mutter that simple phase in any school in America, and you will likely get a variety of reactions, from disgust to fear. Somehow, a system that was placed to ensure that there would be no child left behind has created a situation that forces many schools to do just that. Students feel that the weight of the world is on their shoulders, because if they mess up, it might lead to their teacher being fired, or their school losing funding. Many people believe that children do not think about these types of problems, but they see the effect their work can have, and blame themselves for it.

Read More
1616 Words | 7 Pages

Students in the United States go to high school, graduate with a good GPA, apply to a college of their choice, get accepted, and go through college to find a high-paying job in the future. Unfortunately, there are some students who have the grades but do not have the test scores that colleges would like to see to be admitted. The alternate route for these students that still would want to pursue a college degree would be to either retake the tests that they did not do the best on or apply to a community college, and then transfer into a college of their choice. The use of standardized testing in college admissions should be eliminated due to its biased nature, limited scope, and lack of effectiveness in predicting student success. Standardized

Read More
1687 Words | 7 Pages

Everyone has had to endure the pain at some point in his or her life. The awful, long hours of preparation for one thing: standardized testing. These tests in many states are beginning to get harder in order to align with the new common core standards, and are not only being used to grade students, but teachers as well. Because of the increase in the level of difficulty of the tests, students are beginning to have anxiety. Teachers and parents are not getting a little taste of it as well as they become such a prominent part of the evaluation of students success.

Read More
1247 Words | 5 Pages

Argument Paper 1 In our society, there is constant pressure on high schoolers to be the perfect student so that they can get into college. One of the pressures that school systems put on their students is standardized testing, such as the ACT and SAT. Standardized tests are an issue because they are quantitative measurements that ignore qualitative evaluations of students. Although there is no way to make the college application process stress-free, eliminating standardized tests will stop objectifying students and promote inclusivity.

Read More
1686 Words | 7 Pages

United States government believes that the pressure of high-stakes testing will close students’ achievement gap. When in fact, the high-stakes not only creates academic difficulty, but it also marginalize minorities. Initially, high-stakes testing forces educator to concentrate instruction most likely to be tested. It diminish the overall quality of learning as demonstrates by Natasha K Segool’s 2013 article “Heightened Test Anxiety Among Young Children: Elementary School Students' Anxious Responses To High-Stakes Testing,” Segool claims, “More students reported moderate test anxiety (59% vs. 44%) and fewer students reported low test anxiety (32% vs. 45%) about NCLB testing versus classroom testing. Overall, 25% of students reported increased test anxiety about the NCLB assessment and were reclassified into a higher test anxiety level” (496).

Read More
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.

Read More
1098 Words | 5 Pages

A standardized test, according to W. James Popham of ASCD.org, is “any examination that is administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner.” In standardized testing, examinees are instructed to precisely answer a specific set of questions, which are usually multiple-choices. Although standardized testing is believed to be an objective method to grade students, administers should understand that these tests are not only a waste of time, but also a waste of money. Standardized testing is irrelevant to a student’s education because it is an unreliable way to measure a student’s knowledge, causes stress, and hinders a student’s overall learning potential.

Read More

More about Arguments Against Standardized Testing In Schools

Related Topics

Open Document