Standardized Testing Pros And Cons

Today’s education system is not fulfilling its’ full potential. American parents who enroll their children in the United States’ schools have the right to be concerned. Teachers are not getting taught how to cope with different personalities in a classroom, and they join organizations that give them benefits such as, shortening their school day, and making them more money. Also, according to different laws schools must do standardized testing, but standardized testing has many disadvantages. Due to these factors schools are not providing the best education system they should be. Behaviors in a single classroom can vary from the shy quiet child who does not like to talk to anyone, to the outgoing loud child who raises their voice to receive

One day. One student. That is a standardized test and they are not the measure of the students’ knowledge. Many factors can affect a student’s test score, such as; how much sleep they got, if they are hungry, family issues, personal issues, concentration ability, fear of failing, and stress. A standardized test is simply not a measure of knowledge at all. The government sets predetermined norm groups to discriminate against students who do not make the cut (Solley 48.) The schools and government assume that if they set standards high enough the students will want to study to do better. Taiwan is the leading country in mathematics, but forty to sixty percent of Taiwanese students to do not reach the NAEP proficiency level (Rothstien 210.) Students are not extrinsically motivated to do well on tests, and if they do not reach the obscene standards they are more likely to drop out of school. The NAEP raises the standards so that students who are not good enough will fail the tests and drop out, making the school average higher and making them look better to the government and world (Jehlen.) Many countries test solely on math and reading, the two main subjects you must have mastered in order to succeed in life. By only testing on these subjects, schools have given less focus to the creative arts and sciences. This means that the children are not learning critical thinking, discussion skills, and problem solving skills as well as they should be. Two former secretaries of education state, “We should have seen this coming… more emphasis on some things would inevitably mean less attention to others…. We were wrong.” (Rothstien 208.) Chester Finn and Diane Ravitch admit that testing on only certain subjects is disastrous towards a well rounded education. If they are going to continue to test, they need to test in every area. Teachers are forced to teach the children how to test, or they stress reappearing content. Most schools require that the teachers go