Arguments Against Standardized Testing

“When we began the map test I knew my students were gonna dread it, I myself dread it, and I am not even taking it. So I decided how about a reward for these kids, if you got above your past score you got 7 extra credit points for the test, which made a lot kids eager to get a good score. They went to sleep early, read before bed, and got a good meal beforehand, everything the test recommends the students to do before taking it. These kids fully ready to take it, mindset clear. When they got their scores back most were shocked because the did not score the same or higher, they got a lower score. All across the room I saw devastated faces because they wouldn’t receive their 7 extra points, and all their hard work was a complete waste. I decided to start an investigation so I called the test company and explained the situation and the only thing they told me was ‘well maybe they lied to you.’ this could not be true, 90% of these kids were A average students in an honors class.

Although the No Child Left Behind Act was originally passed to raise the international ranking of the United States in education, the U.S. slipped from 18th place in the world in math to 31st place in 2009 (standardizedtests.procon.org). However, one of the countries that did top the PISA rankings was Finland. According to Linda Darling-Hammond and Laura McCloskey, Stanford University researchers, Finland uses no standardized tests to rank or evaluate students. The only way for the United States to climb the global rankings in education is to create new methods to improve our education, because standardized testing sure isn’t.

Like most things in academics, I just knew that the standardized test were just donkey manure and additional gatekeepers to the system. Sure there are waivers, but the fact that you have to pay for them, especially for something because college requires is foolish. Should you be applauded for doing well on them? Most definitely. But it’s like having to pay and being required to take a swimming test, which can only test how well you can swim, how fast, and how many form. But if you’re not a swimmer but a basketballer or a footballer or whatever your gift is, then you’ll be penalized for not performing as well. The point is, we’re inadequately being tested on forms that do not measure all correctly and yet have been indoctrinated in the same system or requirements that was only adopted in the 1960’s when the University of California system signed on to it. Furthermore, standardized tests like the SAT/ACT is more of a measurement of class than anything else. As of this writing, I come to find that many more colleges have dropped that requirement, but still, the fact that so many students spend so much wasted time paying and studying for it, like I did, makes me shake my head. I knew that I had to play the game, or get left behind. I knew the game wasn’t about my

The chart above posted by Zachary Goldfarb on the Washington Post further shows that if a student’s family is more affluent, that student is likely to do better. If standardized testing is going to test students as equals, then all the prep material should be made available for all students no matter what income level a student’s family is in.

Competition is everywhere, whether it be survival among animals, winning a sports match, or getting admitted into the most prestigious university. Standardized test scores allow one individual to distinguish themself from another. In addition to serving as a benchmark of where one stands academically, many believe that these assessments can improve public education. Although standardized testing can benefit public education by minimizing the amounts of cheating and providing statistics on how individuals compare among each other, such assessments are flawed and ineffective since they are not as consistent as they claim, do not accurately measure one’s intelligence and capability, and do not intend to improve one’s ability.

I believe that America should cut standardized test funding by half, and furthermore decrease the number of tests the average student takes. Every generation is different, and the way they are taught is different to the point where not one thing is the same in any way. Before the 1900’s there were no standardized tests, but then by World War I standardized testing became standard for every student (Blasi, 2005). In the span of 50 years, multiple generations were born and they were raised on the seemingly new idea of standardized testing. These generations included veterans, slaves, and people who fought other Americans from different belief systems, so people can understand the skepticism I may have when I ask, was it right to implement

Standardized testing, “an examination that's administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, “Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality“), has been around since approximately a century ago and is deemed as the ideal ‘calculator’ to determine the strengths and weaknesses in the education system in the United States of America. Although it is heavily flawed, the United States will not revoke this process or alter it because it has been deemed as a ‘set’ method in determining the level of education America has achieved. The method of standardized testing is problematic because it does not accurately measure

The infamous standardized exam is a consistent tool used to measure all students on the same scale to get the most accurate results possible. The standardized tests have been becoming the number one thing that colleges look at when looking at an applicant’s form rather than the GPA like in the years before. The reason for this is because in modern day high school the GPA isn’t that accurate because now there are a variety of different courses you can take as well as teachers that are stricter than others affecting the “measuring stick” like in the standardized exams. These tests are also used to determine if a child has learned the basic skills and material to pass on to the next grade seen in grade school. An option presented by anti-standardized test associations are teacher made tests and assessments. The biggest problem with this is that “teacher graded assessments are inadequate alternatives to standardized tests because they are subjectively scored and unreliable.”(Procon) This is 100% true because a teacher can give their assessment to the students and have no idea what level they are at and the students are without a doubt going to fail the test. Standardized test are perfect because these tests are prepared by months and months of handouts around the tests. Therefore the students will have an idea what they are

There has been a debate regarding whether the use of standardized tests is improving education in America. Proponents say standardized tests provide a fair and objective measure of student achievement. On the other hand, opponents argue that the tests are neither fair nor objective, that the harms these tests cause outweigh the benefits. Though there are valid arguments on both sides of this issue, those who approve standardized tests as a reliable method of evaluation have a strong case for the following reasons:

Standardized testing is bad for students. Testing shouldn’t be a way for a child of any age to have their capability or intelligence measured, and frankly it’s very unfair. Many people feel pressure and stress from the testing process as well as many other issues which might arise from a vigorous system. Standardized testing should be cut from the American schooling system.

Standardized tests are a reliable measure of student improvement and achievement. According to procon.org “Without them, policy makers would have to rely on tests scored by individual

“Attaching high stakes to test results increases cheating and other efforts to boost scores without improving educational quality. This can be done by arranging for low-scoring students to be absent on test day or pushing them out of school.” ¹ Standardized testing is used in most schools, it is an easy way to make sure everyone has the same questions and grading system. It became very popular in 2001, when the “No Child Left Behind Act” was reauthorized, this requires third to eighth grade to be tested yearly in reading and math and once in high school. Some of these tests are now given on a computer and sent directly to the grading “center”, although you do not normally get answers back for several weeks to months. Most of the schools do

A very current and ongoing important issue happening within the education system is standardized testing. A standardized test is any examination that's administered and scored in a calculated, standard manner. There are two major kinds of standardized tests: aptitude tests and achievement tests. Standardized aptitude tests predict how well students might perform in some subsequent educational setting. The most common examples are the SAT’s and the ACT’s. The SAT and the ACT attempt to estimate how well high school students will perform in college. But standardized test scores are what citizens and school board members rely on when they evaluate a school's effectiveness. Nationally, five such tests are in use: California Achievement Tests,

Standardized tests were originally made to accurately measure student achievement, but the emphasis on standardized testing today makes students hate school, they become discouraged when they don’t pass the test. Standardized tests waste money, they cause teaching to the test, the high stakes tempt cheating, and they are full of errors (Kamenetz).

Standardized tests can be viewed by teachers, students, and parents, as helpful for the school system but in actuality they are unnecessary and detrimental to one’s academic future. Standardized testing has been used in the American school system since the mid 1800’s. This became a nationally used standard in 2002 when the United States declared the No Child Left Behind Act, which stated that all 50 states have to take standardized tests (ProCon 1). The tests have multiple-choice questions that can be quickly graded by test scoring machines. Some tests also have open-ended questions that require human grading. Standardized tests are used to test the abilities of students and to make sure teachers are teaching the information (ProCon 3). Some people believe that standardized tests are helping the students but they are really doing more harm than good.