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Standardized Testing Informative Essay

1209 Words5 Pages

One of the biggest and controversial issues I see in education is standardized testing and the lack of critical thinking in schools. The use of standardized testing to evaluate students, teachers, and schools began many centuries ago but was more recently brought to life in 2001 with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Education reform seems to be at the forefront of everyone’s agenda in the effort to fix America’s youth and ultimately the economy, and I suppose that standardized testing was once thought of to be the solution to the problems facing education. However, after nearly two decades since NCLB was established, it is evident that times have changed. There have been great advances in technology, and many jobs and careers need more …show more content…

In their article, Grinell and Rabin (2013) state, “we have stopped paying attention in schools to children as whole people with rich and complex interests, desires and skills (Grinell & Rabin, 2013, p. 749). No Child Left Behind was intended to create equal opportunity for all children and improve education, but instead it has focused more on testing. “We teach them that they are not in school to learn; instead, they are in school to perform” (Grinell & Rabin, 2013, p. 750). Performing well on standardized tests is drilled into students at such a young age, and it does not stop when they reach the high school level. It is unfortunate that children are not given the opportunity to enjoy school and develop a desire to learn; this all comes to a halt when testing begins. School becomes stressful and overwhelming for the students who truly want to excel, and students who are apathetic towards school become even more detached. In his article, Robert Linn discusses the shift in expectations of standardized testing. “Testing was seen as a tool for improving efficiency and managing the dramatic growth in students in the 20th century” (Linn, 2001). Standardized testing is used to compare students, teachers, and schools, but how exactly is it helping to improve education? If standardize testing continues, it is imperative that the results be used in such a way that education drastically improves. Our children deserve to be

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