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The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

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Are We Truly Up To Standard?
The Real Issue With Standardized Testing

Standardized testing has been a heated debate for quite a while, with some stating that it is incredibly stressful, while others believe it sets a standard. If you’re unfamiliar with the topic, standardized tests are tests taken by students based off curriculum, but aren’t quite the same as your everyday review tests. These are long tests that are marked by computers, and are used to “judge” the student’s academic level. However, they are incredibly unnecessary. Test anxiety is a parasite that lives in schools, and is at it’s worst during standardized testing weeks. These tests try to act like a one size fits all t-shirt, but like with real t-shirts, it is not the case. …show more content…

This is the question of many who are against standardized testing. The tests struggle to truly measure a student’s learning. The tests ask questions about material that has been learned over a certain period of time, thus measuring memory, not intelligence. If you ask a witness what happened at a crime scene, and they cannot remember certain details, are they suddenly dense? A quote from the Concordia University of Portland:
“Open-ended questions allow students to display knowledge and apply critical thinking skills, but most require human readers.”
This is the only downside. Multiple choice questions don’t really give the students the option to display what they really know, to give their answer in their words. It does make sense however, with issues surrounding lack of teachers to grade. If this is an issue though, then why not measure success by dropout rates, by college acception numbers? Why not by graduation rates? These tests, like stated before, do not measure the learning, skill, and intelligence of a student. As W. James Popham said best: “But, as most of us know from attempting to wear one-size-fits-all garments, sometimes one size really can't fit …show more content…

These tests do not help anything mentally, as a study in 2012 showed that about 2.8 million Canadians (15 and older) suffered from a mental illness. Testing adds to a list of the things these teens, children, and overall youth have to be anxious and depressed about. 33% of US students (elementary) showed some anxiety surrounding standardized testing. What does this have to do with anything, you ask? People who are under pressure tend to do poorly, and something like a meltdown, a panic attack, or fainting, can really disrupt the focus and concentration a student needs to work properly in a testing environment. Suicide threats are also present. So, when a student has a lower test score due to stressing, but does wonderfully in class, how are they seen in a computer’s eyes? They fail, simple as that. No mercy is granted on these students, for with the way that the testing works, everyone would have to retake it if they did, to stay

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Many students are smart and understand the content, but it doesn't show on test scores (Gregory J. Cizek, 2001). In essence, testing brings out stress in even the brightest of students, messing with their heads come test day. The facts show that from the 50 states, 700 school districts claim that standardardized tests are causing greater anxiety than the average everyday assessments (Joseph Spector, 2015). In conclusion, student achievement

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It is average for a student in high school to take multiple standardized tests that judge how successful they will be in the future. Students tend to be stressed out, under pressure and try to cram everything they’ve learned from the past 18 years of their lives into their head for a test that may mean success or failure. In my opinion, standardized tests should not be mandatory to take for multiple reasons such as people may not be excellent test takers and other factors that come into play when an important day comes up; illnesses, stomach ache, stress, homework, studying and lack of sleep. Standardized testing does not truly test one’s intelligence. It does not let one think for themselves or develop their own thoughts or intellectual

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Standardized testing becomes a vast part of a students life, but do these tests pertain to the knowledge they need for life outside of school? Standardized testing presents students with many categories of material, while restricting the amount of time they have to complete a subject. According

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State standardized tests are exams students take to assess their schools, teachers, and what they learned in their year. Many parents and teachers deem these tests useless and see it as an unnecessary stress added to their child’s life. Students should not be taking this exam because it causes a major curriculum gaps between students, causes stress and loss of interest in school, and after almost a full year of learning, this test is supposed to determine a student 's knowledge of the year’s curriculum. Although some say this test prepares students for college, the stress and loss of interest in school caused by this test and test prep can affect student’s mental health and grades. State tests cause stress and anxiety in students, especially lower performing students because of the pressure of making sure all students, regardless of ability, reaches the same level.

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Based on the topic of the research, the anatomical structure that will be discussed is the pelvic bone of the modern whale, and the evidence of evolution that exists in the structure that lost its vestige. According to an online article by Brian Switek for the “Smithsonian”, an estimated 375 million years ago (mya) vertebrates that had arms and legs, known as the first tetrapods, made their out from one ecosystem (swamp) to another (terrestrial), to roam about. Dinosaurs remained the superior invertebrates during the time (Eocene period), the first group of mammals had evolved an estimated 200mya; during this interval, they became diverse, but small in size until terrestrial dinosaurs became extinct 65mya. Due to this incident, the major radiation (derived from the term, “Evolutionary Radiation”, is defined as the increase of diverse species from an ancestral species into different forms) occurred, which led to the first whales to evolve from the tetrapods that made their way out of the swamp ecosystem.

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The tests are ineffective because they don’t measure all of what the students know, and what is important. The text stated, “Standardized Tests are IQ tests from one-hundred years ago. They are outdated.” Some reasons to why Standardized Tests are ineffective are that they don’t measure student’s creativity, and they make students feel they aren’t smart. In the 1950’s they only tested every two years.

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The Controversy of Standardized Testing Students everywhere take standardized tests. However, are they truly beneficial to the students? Are these tests capable of showing what students can really do? Or, are they biased against the test-taker, making it harder to reach his or her goals? Is it fair to base a student’s intelligence on one simple test grade that that student might have had a disadvantage in?

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Why Standardized Testing is not an Accurate Depiction of Intelligence Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines standardized testing as a test of intelligence whose reliability has been established by obtaining an average score of a significantly large number of individuals for use as a standard of comparison (Merriam-Webster). This means that it is a test used for to determine someone’s intelligence by comparing scores to an average obtained from a large population. Currently, sixty percent of colleges say that test scores are an important factor in student admissions (Morse). Standardized tests are traditionally multiple-choice but can also have true-false, short-answer, and essay questions. When people hear “standardized test” they tend to immediately

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There is evidence to support that standardized tests are negatively affecting our students, lowering the quality of education, and leaving our students ill prepared for the “real world.” There is also evidence that standardized tests are not a good measurement of intelligence for everyone as discussed by Howard Gardner in his multiple intelligences theory. Evidence suggests that standardized tests should be reevaluated, changed, or completely eliminated. Participants I sent surveys (Appendix A) to 2 former standardized test takers.

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According to a study done by Large amounts of Standardized tests are not beneficial to students. Ordinarily, Standardized tests can cause Students stress. Students work their brains down and then don’t want to go to school. When students come to school on test days not looking so energized, and confident, it reasonable to say that something is wrong.

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However, these tests do not help students. Standardized tests are causing students stress, which can lead to many serious illnesses. Along with stress, these tests can be the cause of bullying. For instance, if your score was deemed “too high” or “too low”. With all of these problems, there is no way that students are helped by standardized tests, and are therefore not worth the high amount they cost, in money and time ("Standardized Testing Is the Biggest Waste of Classroom Time Ever."

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Standardized testing for highschool students is not helping but hurting students education for a various amount of reasons it's too much stress on students , they don't truly measure intelligence and it promotes failure . First , Standardized testing is a test that adds to much stress to one child because its a test that you have to past in order to graduate. Although some students might have straight A’s , high SAT and ACT scores if they fail the standardized test they can not graduate. For example Moshe Zeidner said “when students are required to complete an exam within a certain time constraint, their stress level increases, and the effect of anxiety on test performance is exacerbated.

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But this isn't even the worst effects that standardized testing has on our students. Fairtest.org states the following. “A study in England, which has a similar focus on high-stakes testing, found a 200% increase in counseling sessions related to exam stress between 2013 and 2014. One agency found an increase in SUICIDAL thoughts related to exam stress.” Can you believe that?

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These tests promised a way to identify kids who could go further in their education, while separating them from the kids who learned slower and would need extra help. The tests also came with the notion of academic tracking in order to steer students onto a career path deemed appropriate for them (Gershon, 2015). Attempting to measure a student’s intelligence through a standardized test is beyond absurd. All students learn at a different pace. This means that, even if a student may not know a skill at the time of the test, it doesn’t mean that they will never know it.

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From pre-kindergarten to the 12th grade, the average student takes approximately 112 standardized tests (Layton). These tests are not as reliable as most people think. The result a student will get greatly depends on the physical and emotional well-being on the testing day. Many students suffer from testing-day anxiety, and high levels of stress because they are being bombarded the pressure of knowing how tremendously influential these scores will be for their future. Standardized tests like the ACT and SAT are used to measure the potential successfulness of the particular student in college.

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