The Effects of Standardized Examinations in the Education System Standardized examinations have become routine within the education system and are present at almost every academic level. Exploring the original cause of their implementation and the subsequent effect that standardized examinations have demonstrated throughout the years shows how their use has changed dramatically. Standardized examinations were originally developed and implemented for the purpose of tracking an educational institutions progress (Sharkey, et. al. 211). The examinations being the exact same content offer comparative data for executive and government level education professionals to access and consider during the course of their decision making surrounding the …show more content…
Students from educational institutions across the country can be easily compared to each other. This type of analysis is important in determining if specific areas or schools are trending in such a way that they are considered falling behind as far as the national average is concerned. The impact that the availability of this data has is insurmountable and has led to many extremely beneficial changes to local education programs in many instances over the years. Alternative reasons or causes exist for the implementations of standardized examinations in the United States exist as well. For example, shortly after their introduction the standardized examination system began being utilized for its ability to keep educators accountable for their responsibilities to the students that they are teaching. Other ways in which standardized examinations produced positive outcomes for students and education in general include their ability to encourage superior study and exam preparation techniques for younger student, their ability to pressure students in a similar fashion as would be experienced in a college or university setting, and also the examinations give the students a different view of who is really interested in their grades. Students, especially younger students grow tired of