Flaws Of Standardized Testing Essay

How standardized testing has failed in the U.S.

Education is the foundation that our future as a nation is dependent upon. The United States has a goal for the education of its students, “ to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal success.”. The plan put in place by the United States’ education system is to hold states, schools, and teachers responsible for the advancement of American children through the process of standardized testing. The origins of standardized testing began in Europe where up until recently the only group of people receiving an education were those who planned on going to University afterwards, therefore the curriculum in the secondary

This included students who were not going on to post secondary school, and the tests used before were modified in order to assess the capabilities of the young population fairly and without bias. As time has passed the process of standardized testing has evolved although the point of testing has stayed the same; to hold schools, teachers and students accountable for the test scores made over material learned each school year. All throughout the U.S. government arguments have been made that if education reform were to happen that minority groups would take the brunt of the blow the way they did when the very first standardized tests were given. While education systems overseas may be implementing new methods of schooling and testing their progress cannot be compared to ours due to their significantly higher homogenous population that the U.S. does not have. However still, the U.S. is failing to achieve its goal through the current education system. 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