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Standardized Testing Argumentative Essay

1093 Words5 Pages

Delaney Little
Hockmeyer
Honors English 2/Block 4
3 April 2022
Standardized testing Schools have normalized the idea of standardized testing. It has become the main purpose of criteria and teaching. Although standardized tests are a satisfactory way to evaluate superficial knowledge, they also discourage students from critical thinking. Standardized testing should not be allowed, they are not beneficial or essential material. Standardized tests compare students' knowledge without featuring students skills, creativity, and innovativeness. First off, standardized tests capture the same information and are all graded the same for every student. This information indicates that standardized testing denies students the ability to explain their …show more content…

This is an important factor because students have knowledge beyond a standardized exam's lack of depth questions being asked and a student's thought process being unable to fit within a simple question and answer. Bobbie Solley suggests that teachers shorten their practice periods, causing students to be taught in less developmentally acceptable ways and encouraging critical thinking because of standardized testing and state criteria (Solley). This explains how standardized exams lessen the importance of comprehension and push the idea of memorization and critical thinking. Jack Buckley indicates that, “varying levels of academic rigor across high schools, and increased public scrutiny of the role and impact of higher education in American society” (Buckley). Jack Buckley explains that a rise in education will help American society, this amplifies that student education is solely based on the ability for a teacher to teach. Standardized tests provide incomplete information for students to fully understand and explain themselves, therefore, resulting in students learning for the test and teachers teaching for the …show more content…

In the article Abstaining From Standardized Tests Disrupts National Educational Data Leo Doran exhibits how the use of standardized testing is to give extra help to the students in need and to keep schools and students responsible for their learning (Leo). Accountability would be a very big issue if standardized testing were to be eliminated, however there are other alternatives that could help with students staying responsible for their learning like the opt out movement, widening the test so people of diverse groups can also relate, pushing more importance on learning the material and not comparison, among other things. Bobbie Solley describes how tests have been connected to accountability for students and teachers, “They are now attached to high stakes, such as grade retention, admittance into special programs, graduation, admission into college, and whether or not schools remain open and teachers get to keep their jobs.” (Solley). This is an important factor, keeping others responsible through different factors that Solley included. However, other things to keep in mind are, there are other alternatives like grading assessments during instructional time in class, taking the pressure off of grades, extra observations to help students with programs and things of that nature. If standardized testing was to be taken out, it

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