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Standardized Testing Essay

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Standardized testing assesses a student’s individual performance and does not consider exterior factors. Test achievement plays a big part on those factors. Something as simple as a cold on the day of testing may prevent a student from performing well on test day. Pretest anxiety is also a common occurrence for many students. “Standardized testing only evaluates the individual performance of the student instead of the overall growth of that student over the course of the year. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) only focuses on whether a student is proficient at the time of testing. This does a disservice to both the teacher who worked hard to help their students grow and the student who worked extremely hard over the course of the year and improved …show more content…

Teachers and the school are obligated to teach the student what is essential for the standardized test. The scores are public record so when teachers and schools do not meet the test requirement they are placed under scrutiny. This can result to job loss and in extreme cases the school may be seized by the state. In the article, Testing does not measure up for Americans, Jeanette Deutermann of North Bellmore, NY objects to the tie between testing and teacher evaluations that has been promoted by the U.S. Department of Education. “If they hadn’t done that, none of this would have gone as it has. The minute they tied teacher evaluations to those test, they set up classrooms to be about nothing except testing. Now teachers’ careers hang on this ludicrous test. So of course, they are going to make kids spend all of their time preparing for the test. Their careers depend on it”. However higher pay does not lead to better student performance. “Performance pay may in fact drive more talented teachers out of the profession. Studies show that while money matters to teachers, working conditions are more important. Teachers want to work in supportive environments, where they have scope for creativity as well as rigor, and where colleagues collaborate, rather than compete, with one another. If performance pay puts teachers against one another, places even greater pressure on test results, and creates

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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.

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The tests narrow down the curriculum to focus on the subjects that are on the test, forgetting about the other subjects. Standardized tests cannot measure all that schools teach like how to be a problem solver. Standardized tests have not improved America’s education system. Every once in a while the world will submit their schools performance and they will be ranked with

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When competition of merit pay are in hand, not only are teachers in for it but as well as administrators, school boards, and school districts. More individuals will want to become teachers because they will be hearing about the bonuses in pay. “Pay-based incentives for student achievement create competition--either subtle or overt--among colleagues” (Magill). Every student deserves to have a good learning environment without facing problems with their teacher and the teachers colleagues.

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He argues that "…too much emphasis is placed on standardized tests, and not much is being done to develop teachers in providing a balanced teaching and learning experience for learners" (139). Cordeur backs up his statement by saying that teachers are being taught to teach the test, which leads to inflated test scores (139). However, while test scores have risen, he believes that educational standards have decreased (139). The article then takes a closer look at standardized testing specifically in America, and Cordeur explains that many teachers have abandoned teaching material outside of the test material due to pressure from the District of Education and other outside sources to increase their scores (142). What standardized test scores are not measuring, and therefore what the teachers are not teaching, are the educational standards mentioned.

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Technically, teachers are not evaluated on how good students perform on these tests, but feel as if they are held responsible when students fail. They would rather guide their students to work diligently and master the test information, instead they spend valuable time preparing students for these test. Teachers are there to teach students and help them enjoy their time spent at school. Instead students are bored by teachers and are growing to hate them. Most teachers leave schools because of the way they are treated by their students.

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World domination. It may simply begin through the depths of an evil scientist, but in reality, standardized tests are the culprit. Standardized Testing: two words that as soon as teachers, their students, and administrators hear this, they fret. The day where all outstanding abilities acquired throughout the year is assessed at once. All this joyful news of how standardized testing supposedly creates miracles of our knowledge, increasing student achievement, may be proven wrong or right, but that is not our deepest concerns.

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The facts supporting this include : teachers teaching to the test, the amount of stress put on the students and staff, student performance, and impersonal testing. To begin with, standardized testing causes teachers to “ teach to the test”. Many teachers across the US feel the need for their students to succeed on standardized

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There are so many results for a single test that does not even evaluate a student’s knowledge accurately. A single bad day could be disastrous to a student’s career, and a day of lucky guessing can float them by another year. Teachers are “graded” on their class’s results, so if a teacher’s class does poorly, that teacher may have an intervention coming.[PP1] Some people have even advocated for teachers’ pay and job security to be based upon the results of testing(“High-Stakes Test Definition”). Schools are given “grades” as well, and funding is based on them.

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On the other hand, standardized testing does have its benefits. Taking these tests provides students information about their progress over the course of several years, in areas such as math, reading, and writing (Geier et al. 923). It also helps to show parents how their child is doing compared to students locally and nationally, as well as how their child’s school did compared to other schools. According to Karen Tankersley, “standardized testing provides government information on the education system to improve areas that are lacking.” In some cases, testing can guide teachers on student learning and their own teaching practices.

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A child’s ability to learn and critically think has taken a back seat to the amount of standardized testing in today’s schools which become the priority. In my opinion there are too many test and not enough thought and creativity happen in the school systems today. My children have four standardized test throughout one school year. They have taken away all recess in order to have the additional fifteen minutes a day to prepare them for these test. This year they implemented the early arrival secession in order to access an additional fifteen to twenty minutes more achieved by students arriving at school mandated to report immediately to their assigned class.

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This is in the eyes of many the most beneficial use of standardized testing. As teacher and schools that fail to meet the expected learning target for students can be held responsible. School that fail in the education of students can face sever examination and in some cases have had to be taken over by the state in order to insure the education of young students. In some cases, teachers and administrators who fail to educate have lost their jobs and in the most intense cases school have had to shut down (About Education,

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Adding to the problem is the fact that what appears on a test may not always correlate to what a student has learned in the classroom, and the tests are not always telling of a student’s future success in college or the workplace (Lutchman 1). As Educator Keon McGuire of Arizona State

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Standardized testing are giving in many areas of the nation According to a article by “The Washington Post” “The study analyzed tests given in 66 urban districts in the 2014-2015 school year. It did not count quizzes or tests created by classroom teachers, and it did not address the amount of time schools devote to test preparation”(Layton Lyndsey). Teachers are being evaluated by students and how well they do on the standardized test. Several states have tied student performance to teacher evaluation. The National Council on Teacher Quality reported in January 2014 that “about

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Standardized tests are tests designed to evaluate a student’s performance and as well as the teacher’s performance where these tests contain the same set or common questions which are taken by the students annually in the same way (The Johnson Center, n.d.). However, these tests may also vary depending on which of the student’s or school’s ability would they like to evaluate. Standardized tests are of different forms. There are tests intended to evaluate a student’s learning and academic progress¬—if a student was able to learn what he/she was supposed to learn¬—over a period of time.

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