The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama once said "If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that." Standardized testing is another way students scores can be identified and critiqued. It also helps the school acquire information and statistics about the weaknesses of their students and what they can do to make improvements. The DOE prepares students in advance, from elementary school which they can develop test taking skills that can help them throughout their educational life. In today's society, test scores have become a pathway to great opportunities including college admissions and scholarships, etc. Also test scores can be used for evaluating the effectiveness …show more content…
It measures how students are progressing and the information is used to improve public schools. Parents want to know how their kids are doing in school and educators want their students to succeed in every possible way. Michelle also states that tests serve many reasons, to identify strengths and weaknesses. The skills and knowledge learned in school are going to be used for future careers and to compete with others for the same reasons. But a new study by Teach Plus, found that on average, in grades three and seven, just 1.7 percent of classroom time is devoted to preparing for and taking standardized tests. However, students can be knowledgeable in their own way. If they are not forced to learn, they will learn on their own. Students have the capabilities the test makers do not see. Standardized testing do not fully define students abilities and it's just one factor out of many for life changing opportunities. Joan Harris says that contrary to popular assumptions about standardized testing, the tests do a poor job of measuring student achievement. They fail to measure such important attributes as creativity and critical thinking skills. Students offer a variety of skills that aren’t in the standardized