Fairness Of Standardized Testing

760 Words4 Pages

Standardized testing is a common way of measuring a students progress and performance in school. The tests may vary by different schools and grades and it usually takes up a large portion of students total time. Although it is purposely designed to be consistent and accurate tool, it isn 't. Many question the effectiveness of standardized testing. Standardized testing is an inaccurate assessment because it does not effectively judge the students ability to learn or understand material, it can not always be objective and fair, and does not take into account the student 's real and true understanding. Standardized test marks based on the students performance on the competitiveness of the exam, and little on their actual knowledge or skills. To …show more content…

Tests designed and administered from beyond classrooms have always been more useful to administrators, legislators, and other school authorities than to classroom teachers or students, and have often been most eagerly applied by those seeking school reform. The historical use of standardized tests in the United States reflects two fundamentally American beliefs about the organization and allocation of educational opportunities: fairness and efficiency. The fairness principle involves, for example, assurances to parents that their children are offered opportunities similar to those given children in other schools or neighborhoods. Efficiency refers to the orderly provision of educational services to all children. These have been the foundation blocks for the american system of mass public schooling; testing has been a key ingredient of the mortar. As long as schooling continues to play a central role in American life, and as long as tests are used to assess the quality of education, testing will occupy a big place on the public policy agenda. The search for better assessment way will continue to be searched with controversies that have as much to do with …show more content…

It is a test that is mainly composed of multiple choice questions, with an optional essay which only takes up a small percentage of the total mark. There is only one right answer for each question. Everyone in each grade gets the same test, and this test is given to students in many different schools. First, on a standardized test, it is hard for students to express their creativity, because there are no open-ended questions, and each question has only one model answer. However, the ability to express creativity is vital in many jobs when students grow up. If students are not trained to be creative from when they are young, and only train for these standardized tests, it will be hard for them to survive in companies when they grow up.The above is one of the biggest problems about standardized test, but there are more. How well students of a particular class, or school, do in a standardized test, may affect the teachers’ income. If students do too badly, teachers may even be kicked out of school! This is what causes teachers to “teach to the test” – they only teach students how to do multiple choice tests, which, in turn, buries their creativity and their other analytical skills. This is not good for the students themselves in the long term, and can even harm