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Ethical Issues With Standardized Testing

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Standardized testing is not something that has just come into play. Standardized testing has been around since WW1 when it was used to measure aptitude. 2002's No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was the cause of the drastic increase in annual testing in all 50 states. US students dropped from 18th in the world in math in 2000 to 31st place in 2009, with a similar decline in science. Failures in the education system have been falsely blamed on teacher quality and increasingly on the pervasive use of standardized tests (ProCon,2015). Teachers are evaluated based on how well students test on the standardized test. What will be addressed in this paper is whether or not teachers’ jobs should be dependent on students’ standardized test scores. This issue will be examined through a ethical lense, addressing several different perspectives. These perspectives focus on the negative impact mandatory standardized testing …show more content…

The test does not test students based upon progress but based on their skills. Parents were on board with the standardized testing until they realized the effects it has on child development, since the teachers are being evaluated and the students are no longer being taught standard or better curriculum(Johnson, 2015) When a parent sends their child to school they expect the teacher to teach the child to their full extent or potential. A public school parent in Cleveland, MS. told PDK International. “But there’s so much funding attached to testing, if we don’t do well on testing, then we’re going to lose funding, which means we’re going to lose teachers”(Walker, 2015). Parents have begun the Opt-Out movement among parents who want the right to pull their children out of state mandated standardized testing. It is reported 200,000 grade 3-8 students in New York state opted out of statewide tests in Reading and Math for the 2014-15 school

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Standard testing is a very controversial and important subject because it deals with the progression of the American education system. The practice of these assessments has been highly scrutinized not only for the way it has changed the format of classrooms, but also for its accuracy, pressure, and abundance. In 2001, standardized testing became federally mandated through the No Child Left Behind Act by former president George Bush Jr. According to research from the Council of the Great City Schools, students have been taking “an average of 113 tests from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade” (K. Hefling). These numbers have increased to the point where parents have opted for their children to not attend standardized exams.

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Standardized testing has not improved education in America. Standardized tests have been issued in schools all across the nation for years now. Some people like them and some people don’t. They do not help the student learn more information than they would without the tests. The U.S. has dropped from 18th highest scores in schools in the world to be in the 30’s on almost all of the subjects on the test.

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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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Holding School districts, teachers, and students accountable through the process of standardized testing has not improved the nation’s educational status, but worsened it. Students are now being “taught to the test” , and instead of acquiring knowledge they are acquiring the

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Teachers and the school are obligated to teach the student what is essential for the standardized test. The scores are public record so when teachers and schools do not meet the test requirement they are placed under scrutiny. This can result to job loss and in extreme cases the school may be seized by the state. In the article, Testing does not measure up for Americans, Jeanette Deutermann of North Bellmore, NY objects to the tie between testing and teacher evaluations that has been promoted by the U.S. Department of Education. “If they hadn’t done that, none of this would have gone as it has.

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This brings one question into the light: Is standardized testing really teaching and preparing our students in the best way possible? This is a question that has yet to be answered. The American public education system must be changed to meet the needs of today and the best way

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Their argument consists of three main points: objectivity, comparability, and accountability. Objectivity seems useful because it provides an “accurate unfiltered measure of what the student knows” (Churchill). Comparability is useful in seeing how one’s pupil compares to others of their age group and helps parents decide which school to choose for their child to attend (Churchill). Test results are used to decide which schools deserve federal funding and which require disciplinary action. High stakes testing affects entire communities with the

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Standardized tests are a terrible use of measuring students’ abilities, and therefore has led to being a problem with measuring teachers abilities in the

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The Ethics of Standardized Testing Often when the term standardized testing is used in the United States it is referring to the tests given in our public education system. However, standardized testing doesn’t only refer to multiple choice tests given to children at the end of the year to see if they can move on to the next grade. A standardized test is any test that is scored and administered in a constant, or “standard”, way (Procon.org, 2015).

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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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As Lyndsey Layton has said, parents are forming opt-out groups to stand against standardized testing. Parents don’t want to see their child stressed about a test that seems to dictate if they are even eligible to attend college. Stress is very unhealthy for a teen to ever have to worry about, and there doesn’t seem to be an ending to it if the students have to bare through it for 10 years. Others believe that if their child takes a standardized test, they can see where their child is at and improve in certain areas, however it is said that if you focus more in one part of education and neglect the others, they will still be weak in the areas that they used to be strong

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Another reason why some might use standardized testing is because it is an easier way for the parents to keep track on their child and their progress academically. It gives the parents information on whether or not if their child is doing well in school or not and gives the leverage to be a part of their child’s

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Standardized test scores determine the effectiveness of the teachers as well as the school. School are to maintain, or improve their overall testing grade or prepare to face penalties. The penalties for a failing school include cutting back on extracurricular activities, and any classes that are not considered “core classes” like math, reading, science, etc. Teachers deemed ineffective by the test scores of their students, are disengaged. This is unfair for the will of succeeding in students can only be affected so much by a teacher.

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Standardized: Lies, Money, and Civil Rights: How Testing Is Ruining Public Education “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” –Albert Einstein America, land of the free, land of liberty, land of the American dream, home of standardized testing. Art, sports, and music programs removed from the educational curriculum. After school programs, gym, and recess used to prep for high stakes testing.

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