The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing In Schools

Every year towards the end of the school year students start taking numerous standardized test that the state requires they take. The state of Minnesota should not have schools administrate standardized test because of the negative effect on curriculum, not taking different types of circumstances in consideration from the student’s performance, and expense for the test taking away from other resources. Each grade level, starting in third grade all the way through a senior in high school, will have one stressful day of testing on the material that their teachers have been teaching them from the beginning of the school year.

Each year teachers teach around a curriculum based on what the standardized test will cover and not on what will help the

The advantage to having the curriculum this way is that the teachers have a guideline on what to follow throughout the year. Also, it helps to clarify what the teachers need to teach in the grade level that they are teaching. For example, the standardized test sets up a structure for each grade so that a first grade class and a third grade class are not learning the same content. This is helpful when students move around from different schools because every school in the state will have to same guidelines (Meador,

Lots of students experience test anxiety the day of the test, a study showed that between ten percent and thirty percent of students ranging from third grade to sixth grade experienced test anxiety (Segool, 490). Test anxiety can effect a student’s performance on the standardized test dramatically in different forms of elements. An example of one of this elements happening could be when the time starts running out the student might get super stressed out, which can cause anxiety. When this happens the student could just start to guess on the remaining questions, and not take the time to read each question. The element of time is very important in standardized test because they are timed, which personally always made me get anxiety. Another element that could affect how a student performs on the test could be external factors. External factors can be something like having a fight with a friend the night before, and the student is thinking about that instead of concentrating on the standardized test (Meador, n.p.). I have personally experienced external factors that have affected my performance on a standardized test. The event that took place for me was I received bad news about my grandfather the night before my seventh grade standardized test. There are certain elements that can happen, such as anxiety or