Standardized Testing Informative Essay

According to the National Education Association, “Only 14% of Americans say that standardized testing is important and needed in the school system” (Walker 1). The other 86% think standardized testing is not important or beneficial and therefore should not be used in school. Standardized testing is not beneficial because the tests can discriminate against students, they do not fully measure students’ knowledge, and teachers focus too much on them.

Although standardized tests measure some aspects of a child’s knowledge, factors like race and culture have a big impact on a child’s score. The SAT is a very important factor in getting accepted into a college in the United States. According to Berkeley University, “tests like the SAT have a growing

Many standardized tests are accurate and can determine if a student is learning, however, a majority can not measure the full extent of one’s knowledge. Bryan Nixon says, “Standardized testing is a difficult issue because we need internal and external assessments to measure a student’s knowledge” (3). This means that standardized testing can not measure a student’s knowledge because they need external assessments also. Another issue with standardized tests measuring what you know is that they are state-assigned not district assigned. The Center for American Progress states, “Decisions about what students learn and when they learn happens at the district level, not the state” (Jimenez et al 5). This implies that two districts in the same state could take the same standardized test but have completely different scores because of when students learn topics. One district could score better than the other because the state can not know when students are learning certain topics. With this information, it is evident that standardized tests do not fully measure what students know because they might not have learned what is on the test yet. Meaning the tests are not accurate and will not show students complete knowledge. Jennifer and Ronald Styron state, “Many students have different learning styles as well as testing styles therefore it is highly unreliable to use only one

Standardized tests can discriminate against students based on race, ethnicity, and even gender. This proves that standardized tests are not useful because they favor certain students over others. Standardized tests, although they are thought to measure a student’s knowledge, actually do not. Many factors play into knowledge and standardized tests just can not measure them fully. Lastly, teachers focus too much on standardized tests, and they could think that the tests measure how good of a teacher they are. Teachers then focus on standardized tests rather than teaching the students. Given these claims, standardized testing should be removed from the school system. Instead, schools should focus more on assignments and internal test grades rather than standardized test