Standardized Testing In Schools Essay

The purposes of standardized tests are to instruct decision making, establish program eligibility, evaluate course goals, evaluate program goals, and examine external curriculum. When a teacher gives and assesses a standardized test, they gain information about their students that helps them realize what concepts they have learned according to the agenda for the subject at hand. If the assessment is performed in a sensible amount of time and given according to the directions, this purpose should be fulfilled; however, it is a common belief that standardized tests do not work well in establishing where a student stands in a specific curriculum. The test uses a general curriculum that is the basis for the tests

The current student spends a lot of time taking tests. A recent study suggests that “Starting in third grade, the typical U.S. student spends 20 to 25 hours each school year sitting for tests” (Dispatch) Of those twenty to twenty-five

Current Problems: Texas implanted standardized testing in 1984. High school students had to pass an English and math examination in order to graduate (Hursh, 607). The current state required exam is STAAR. Students in third to eighth graders take five STAAR exams each year, and high school students take a series of end of course exams (“The Truth about Standardized Testing in Texas.”). The STAAR test holds schools accountable to students, parents, and the state. The test scores were to increase from year to year for four years, but the only districts that have shown any improvement are those that have 5,000 students or less. Political leaders agree that there is a problem with the STAAR test (Weiss, “Special Report: Texas Standardized Tests in Trouble; Districts not Showing Gains.”)

This kind of pressure for students faces them very early on in their educational career. Generally, in public elementary schools, students will complete state required tests that will determine if they’ll go to the next grade. Yes, it is important to test students on whether they can handle the material for next year, but designing all around just one test proves completely unfair and too much stress for children that young. There exists a pronounced alternative to large tests that accurately grade students fairly and help prepare them for the real

President Bush is promoting annual standardized testing for all students in grades three through eight in order to assess their academic achievements. This bill is currently being considered in Congress, and has garnered much support from individuals in the community. As of right now, fifteen states test students in those grades, and more than twenty have high school exit exams.

Schools should eliminate standardized tests. Standardized testing has many negative effects on the student body. Some of these effects are very noticeable and apparent, and some are not. Standardized testing causes negative things such as stress and anxiety(Too Much Stress). Testing like this is also not reliable 100% of the time(Standardized Tests Don’t Prove Anything). Tests also limit the imagination, creativity, and the way a student learns(11 Problems With Testing).

Forty hours… that’s almost two entire days. That is about the total amount of time a student uses to take standardized tests. On top of that, the amount of total time taken to study for those forty hours of exams is unimaginable, not to mention the amount of stress and pressure students have on them to do well. Standardized tests are extreme in many cases, and should be stopped.

A lot of public school teachers want one thing to make their school year better and that would be less testing (UCSD Guardian, 2015). When I was in high school I always hated tests; even now I have anxiety before every test. There are so many tests from quizzes, to chapters tests, exams to sats. " The average student will take 112 standardized tests between preschool and high school graduation, spending as much as 25 hours a year testing" (Kamenetz 2015). Adding that up means that 325 hours are spent from kindergarten up equaling 13.54 full days of testing. Somehow testing has become the only means of finding out how children are doing in class. As a preschool teacher who can't give bubble tests to three year olds, I find it hard to believe that

Standardized testing has invariably been a controversial concern when evaluated by the general public. To advocate standardized testing, separation between students is promoted. School systems are becoming more corrupt and with mandatory testing, injustice is allowed to be processed throughout the nation. Standards that are constructed by standardized testing for students should be diminished or repealed from the educational system. Students are used to accumulate data by taking required tests such as the American College Test (ACT), Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) , Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE), or the High School Placement Test (HSPT). Depending on the scores generated by each individual student, a ranking system is molded

Standardized testing alone is not an accurate gauge of a students overall knowledge. We start indoctrinating our children in the first grade with standardized testing to prepare them for the next 11 years of testing. These tests put a lot of undo stress on students to preform well on standardized tests throughout the year. While some students are excellent test takers others become over whelmed with the process and fail to rise to their true academic level. “On Mar. 14,

Standardized tests can not accurately measure intellectual merit because racial and gender stereotypes interfere with the intellectual functioning of those taking the tests, according to Stanford Psychology Professor Claude Steele. The educational system in United States has been using standardized tests to evaluate the performance of students. The first documented achievement test took place in the period of 1840-1875. The earliest tests were meant for individual evaluation, but the results were used to compare schools and students. Even though there has been controversy about why it is so important for colleges to weigh their admissions on these tests that simply measures our academic abilities the day they take the test. Yet,

Standardized testing in public schools has become a norm across the United States. But, in Texas it has been found that students spend more time taking standardized tests than any other state (“Too Much Testing”). Standardized testing may be an asset to measure education, or more measure testing skills across the nation, but at what cost does it come? What are its effects on moral within the public education system, and how does the state government of Texas interact within it. Why does the Texas state government push standardized testing so hard, what benefit does Texas or other states get from the testing? There does need to be change in the standardized testing system in the United States, and more specifically in Texas. There have been

The educational system in the United States has gone through many changes over the last century. These changes are a part of a constant movement toward educational excellence for every child in this nation. One of the most recent acts placed on public school systems by the government is to create more accountability for schools in order to ensure that all children are receiving the proper education. Part of this mandate is that public schools will require students to take tests in order to gather information about their academic achievement. Although educators and administrators claim that the mandatory ability testing programs being initiated in America’s public schools will hold students and teachers accountable for academic

American Education has been a work in progress for the past century and a half. To measure its progress, successes, and failings, there are standardized tests. These tests have been used to compare schools, states, and nations. The key subjects being tested as a universal measure are mathematics, reading, and science. To help improve the scores on these tests, the United States put into law the No Child Left Behind act in 2001. When mention of this act is made, it brings several serious questions to mind. What is the No Child Left Behind act? What is it doing for our education system on a local, national and international scale? And how does it

Tomorrow was the big day. The day that every student despised, but came every year. The problem that transcends national borders: standardized testing. Before I knew it, it was the final week, and time was running out. In my case, the Connecticut state test, the CMT, was in just two days. More than nervousness, there was a cloud of confusion surrounding this test for us students. Some said that preparation and study are necessary for this test, while most thought just the opposite. Some people were even saying that the scores for these tests somehow will affect our progress in school. Looking back, I don’t remember the test being all that hard, but it didn’t make sense to me. How could this one test, filled with questions that require shallow thinking and zero creativity, show the state the performance of my hard-working teachers, or the individuality and strengths of each student? Or on a larger scale, every student in the entire state?