More handpicked essays just for you.
Effects of standardized tests in elementary and secondary schools
Disadvantage of standardized testing
Effects of standardized tests in elementary and secondary schools
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In this TedTalk, College Board president David Coleman discusses the changes and revisions that are going to be made to the SAT. He explains changes including an optional essay portion, no penalties for any wrong answers, and the replacement of certain vocabulary words with much simpler ones. Coleman hopes to shed light on the idea that standardized tests such as the SAT should offer important challenges rather than contrived obstacles. He uses logical arguments to support his ideas regarding the changes being made to the new SAT. Coleman shares new ideas such as allowing students to take the test on computers and ideas concerning the reading and math portions of
In a country that promotes the ideas of grit, innovation, resourcefulness, and growth, I find it curious that American universities are still using standardized tests as an indicator of future success in college. Although standardized tests are only one factor in admissions to many colleges, they should not be used at all because they do not accurately predict the success of students in higher educational environments. Instead of using the SAT and ACT, admissions officers should put more weight on written essays, cumulative high school grade point average, extracurriculars, and letters of recommendation when deciding admissions. Although some may argue that the SAT and ACT offer a way of ranking students without factoring in grade point average, their ability to predict the future success of college students has not been demonstrated.
Since 2006, overall SAT scores have dropped by 21 points. It is safe to say that the increase in standardized testing has done more bad than good. When standardized testing became more prominent, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) saw a plateau in reading and math scores. Additionally, the NAEP saw no further closure in the test score gap. The test score gap affects all minorities.
Standardized Testing: Making College Admissions “Fair” Every year , the daunting prospect of undergoing standardized testing brings anxiety to thousands of high school students, and for good reason: a student’s performance on standardized college admission exams - most importantly, the ACT and SAT - is a major determinant in deciding where they will go to college. For decades, such standardized tests have been universally accepted as part of the admissions process: proponents argue, as Syverson (2007) explains, that such tests are the only way of standardizing college admissions when students from different schools have such widely varying profiles. However, in the past several decades a growing anti-testing movement has begun to poke holes
In “What are the Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing,” Spark Admissions argues two outlooks on standardized testing. Standardized testing is any mandatory test that everybody in an area has to take, and they all have to do them under certain conditions. Some examples are SC Ready, MAP, SC PASS and the ACT. Students take these tests to measure their knowledge on a topic and compare them with other students. Standardized testing should not be required in schools because it can cause students to lose confidence in themselves, students with more wealth are the ones more likely to succeed, and the tests are unfair to some students with special needs.
Introduction Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of educational purposes. For example, they may be used to determine a young child’s readiness for kindergarten, identify students who need special-education services or specialized academic support, place students in different academic programs or course levels, or award diplomas and other educational certificates. Thesis Statement Standardized tests should not be eliminated completely, but should rather be evaluated in addition to other factors such as grades, extracurricular activities, and volunteer hours. This would take pressure off of students during standardized tests, allow colleges to see how well-rounded the students are, and give students who are better in other areas
In the history of modern colleges, the SAT has been the most widely accepted standardized test by students. The SAT was first introduced in 1926, and since then it has been used by millions of college applicants to demonstrate their academic prowess. Following the creation of the SAT, there have been countless debates on whether it should be scrapped or kept due to its potential to unfairly discriminate against students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and its possible lack of correlation with academic success. Every year, more schools begin to shift toward test-optional, while many schools continue to use mandatory standardized testing. To fully understand and agree on an answer to this debate, extensive research must be done, and students
After analyzing the three interviews I conducted, each interviewee had different thoughts and applications to standardized tests. I want to start off by stating what each of my participants believes about standardized tests. Sara stated that “too much time is spent on studying for these tests” (interviewee #1, 1). She also said that as a teacher she wanted her “students to LOVE history, sometimes I feel that that got lost in the desire to have them all pass” (interviewee #1,1). Mary’s opinion read, “I don’t think that it is fair because a simple test shouldn’t judge your whole intelligence” (interviewee #2, 2).
Standardized tests are very common in today’s modern society. They are used as a tool to measure a person’s performance and indicate how their estimated performance will be in a college class. Every year hundreds of students take the ACT or SAT in order to get accepted into their college of choice and to receive scholarships, but they fail to see the problems with these standardized tests. As more and more people take these tests, the national average score falls causing doubt in the extremely important system. This is leading people to question whether or not the ACT and SATs are accomplishing what they were created to do.
Exams like these don’t measure the capabilities and outcomes a student would have in the future such as with school, or the workforce. In one of the assigned readings “No, the SAT is not Required” the author quotes a student who said “I just don’t like how they dictate your future” and “Very poor predictors of success.” These quotes tie in to how these exams can have a significant impact towards someone’s future. The fact that these exams can decide your future is just plain outrageous. All it is measuring is whether or not someone knows the exam
The issue with intelligence testing also relates to the issue with schools producing conformity. One of the many ways that conformity is taught is through standardized testing (Wheeler, 2013). These tests only evaluate ours skills based on one type of intelligence. Therefore, “standardised testing, in all its forms, is designed to capture a narrow, quantifiable impression of children's abilities”(Wheeler, 2013, p.5). Intelligence tests fail to evaluate a majority of the vital components of intelligence (“Intelligent intelligence”,n.d.).
Standardized tests, like the SAT and ACT, attract the attention of thousands of high school students every year, the majority of them striving to achieve a good score, as they know it may increase their chance of getting into their dream college. However, as time goes on the debate on whether or not colleges should use standardized test scores for admission is becoming increasingly popular. Colleges should not use a student's standardized test score for admission for a few key reasons; standardized tests don't truly measure a student's intelligence, not every student excels at taking tests, and standardized tests are classist. To start off, standardized testing should not be used for college admission because they are not a good way to show
Don’t you think students take way to many standardized tests? Some people think students take way to many tests, other people think that the students testing time is fine. I think that students spend way to much time testing because students use too much class time testing, testing is affected by many factors, and standardized tests don’t measure all a student knows. First I will be talking about how students spend way to much time taking standardized tests. My evidence is that even 3rd graders spend at the least 1,240 minutes on standardized testing.
I think I do okay on standardized test, I understand questions on a test then a quiz. I think I'm a bad test taker, because I never really do good on test. Whenever I have a test to take I always have a good feeling about it because I have studied and I understand the task, but I guess when I take the test I always intend to do a bad job I think it's because I get nervous or my mind just goes into a total blank and it stops me from doing my test. I really need to work not getting nervous when I take test because it a big influence in my grades. I'm a good worker when it comes to homework, but test aren't my thing.
When I worked with the teachers, I met children who were not labeled as an advanced child in the first years of school, eventually though they surpassed their peers. However, the label was in place and it seemed almost impossible to remove it. In the first few years of elementary school, children’s development is uneven and idiosyncratic and a standardized test may not represent the child’s ability. They should all be treated as unique individuals and with worthy of self-respect.
