Essay Against Standardized Testing

Solution For Standardized Testing Standardized testing is an issue that many people feel should be revised and improved. The definition of standardized testing is a type of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from a common bank of questions, and that is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of individual students or groups of students (Glossary of Education Reform). Under the current system many students are missing out on the opportunity to actually learn in school, due to the fact that there are lazy teachers who use standardized testing as a threshold for learning. Standardized testing can best be explained as a barrier.

It may seem like an absurd thought at first, but there are many different tactics to be put in place of standardized testing that are more interesting and appealing to students, while also being a better judgement of knowledge and skill. One idea is to have a designated set of inspectors who periodically monitor lessons given by the teacher, and work turned in by the students. Then the inspectors would interview both the students and the teachers. At the school level, Scotland maintains accountability through a system of government inspections that has been in place in the U.K. since 1833 (Kamenetz). By using this system, American schools could save an abundance of time and money used to create and take standardized tests. Not to mention, it provides teachers with no curriculum to teach by, meaning they don’t have any pointless topics that they have to cover by the end of the year. Teachers could finally teach what is best for the students education. Instead of copying down tedious notes off of powerpoints every day, students could learn information that they actually find interesting, while being taught in ways that are enjoyable. Another replacement for standardized testing is something called stealth assessment. Most of the companies that make the textbooks that schools use today also provide different programs to practice english and math. Programs like these register every answer