Standerdized Testing Argument

Do you get nervous before taking a test? On March 14, 2002, the Sacremento Bee reported that "test related jitters are so common that the Stanford 9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet if the student vomits on it. The use of standerdizd testing has been implemented into American schools since the 1800's. The United States dropped from 18th in math internationally to 27th in 2012. The blame is being set on a few different things, including poverty levels going up, teacher quality, and standerdized testing. Arguments for standerdized testing say the tests are fair and are a good measurement of student achievement. Opponents claim the testing adds unwanted stress, anxiety, and a negative 'teach to the test' attitude.

In Gregory Cizeks "Consequences of high stakes testing", he states "Illustrating how testing... produces gripping anxiety in even the brightest students and has been known to make children cry, vomit, or both." You've felt it before. The nervousness, the 'what if I fail' and 'I can't fail or I'll never have a good future' thoughts. Standerdized testing instills a large amount of fear and anxiety for fear of failing. In a Washington Post article from 2011, they talk about a 7th grade girl who ran away from home to avoid a test. Amber alerts were sent out after she went missing from her home in Orange, Conneticut. After finding her in a farm stand a few miles away from her house she told her parents and local police officers that she was stressed about taking the Conneticut Mastery

The No Child Left Behind Act states that non-english speakers must take the test before they have mstered the language. Its also requires children in special education to pass tests designed for children without disabilities. Imagine you've taken a beginning spanish class and then you have to take an end-of-semester test in spanish. Sounds hard, right? This explains that the no child left behind act hinders special needs education. On the other hand, stricter standerds and increased testing prepares students for college. With higher impact and stakes on students education, they are pushed to learn more. When asked, 66% of college professors said that high school kids learn "too little." To oppose the pro-standerdized tests, stricter testing decreases student achievement. They feel like the test are "life or death," Therefore memorizing facts opposed to actually learning them. That gives the impression that sudents arent actually learning anything. In conclusion, Removing the tests completly or at least making them smaller would impact future generations wholesale. The acute teacher and admisistrator improvement is not worth it for the time and effort it takes. Standerdized tests are not beneficial to students acedemic achievement, they induce unwanted stress and anxiety, and they dont provide accomadations for non-english