Cody Schooler Ms. Stites Adv. Comp 10 October 2014 Standardized testing has taken over the school systems in the United States, and not for the better. Beginning with the introduction of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and other federal policies the use of standardized testing has grown exponentially along with test misuse. Despite the ample evidence of the flaws and inaccurate data standardized testing provides, federal policies have pressured schools across the nation to use tests to measure student learning, along with teacher and school quality. The United State’s overuse of standardized testing has had a definite negative effect on the country. Standardized testing has become the go to method for school systems to collect data and mark progress of students. Test are used to determine if a child is ready for school, to diagnose learning disabilities and other handicaps, and to see if a child should be held back or even graduate. School systems also use these test to guide and control the curriculum content for learning. A nine year study by the National Research Council in 2011 concluded that putting an emphasis on testing produced little learning progress, but did in fact cause significant harm. NCLB …show more content…
These test hurt minority students, low income families, non-English speaking natives, and the disabled (Fairtest). These test do not promote the skills, knowledge, and habits needed for success in college or a skilled work environment. Many times the assumption is made that students with low scores need a slower paced, low level course rather than a more rigorous, one-to-one, challenging course that is capable of bringing them up to speed rather than continuing to hold them back. Holding a student back a grade level almost always leads to lower a student’ self esteem, the student’s want to learn, and frequently leads to dropping out.