Jessica Stephan
7 November 2014
Mrs. Rankin
DC English 4 6th hour
Standardized Testing
Sleepless students dread the days ahead. Days filled with monotone instructions, colorless test booklets, confusing questions, broken pencils, missing erasers, and an endless amount of multiple choice test bubbles. Students file into a room crammed wall to wall to fill in test bubbles that may determine if they will pass or graduate or go to college or fail. Their whole future may come down to one test. Standardized testing has become a controversial topic. Standardized testing originally started as entrance exams to get into college. Now it has moved into all grade levels. NCLB or No Child Left Behind requires all students to be tested every year in 3rd
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Some people do believe that standardized testing is beneficial. These people are usually politically conservative, white, and rich. They favor standardized tests because the scores are usually more favorable to them. They are the group that does the best on these tests. The test makers also favor standardized tests for economic and educational reasons. Most test makers do truly believe that their tests are fair and accurate measurements of students’ abilities. Some people believe that standardized tests should be completely eliminated. This group consists of people whom the tests discriminate against. They are usually in poverty or a minority. They receive lower tests scores. Students are typically against standardized testing. They believe it causes too much stress and is too “high stakes”. This group also includes many teachers who are tired of “teaching to the test”. The teachers have seen important programs cut in order to spend more time preparing for the tests. There is a compromise position that a growing number of people started to support. Instead of completely getting rid of standardized tests, many people support the idea of using an alternative. This alternative would be using performance based assessments or PBATs. Teachers who understand the need for a standard in education, but disagree with traditional standardized tests, believe PBATs are the solution. Teachers who have used them see the students understanding the material beyond just short term memorization for standardized tests. While this seems to be a viable and logical option, only a few schools have replaced traditional tests with