Arguments Against Standardized Testing

Throughout high school and college we will go through a vast amount of testing but why? Testing is used to show a person’s amount of knowledge on a particular subject. Usually it’s for one specific subject and not a majority of them, standardized tests administered in schools today include all testable subjects as in English, Math, Science, Writing, and Reading. However, before we can all take the next step and begin our college careers, we have to take one of two tests, the ACT or the SAT. These two exams demine the college you get into, the amount of scholarships you will receive, and even whether or not your will be accepted into said college, all determined by the score you receive.

“‘Everybody is a Genius. But If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid’”(Baskerville). This is a quote that is theorized to have been said by Albert Einstein and can easily be applied to standardized testing in our schooling system. Although some think that standardized testing is the best way to measure students intelligence levels, research suggests that it is ineffective due to factors such as not testing over all subjects, changing how schools teach, discrimination, and the mindset that it creates, therefore colleges should not use them in their admission process.

“There is something deeply hypocritical in a society that holds an inner-city child only eight years old "accountable" for her performance on a high-stakes standardized exam but does not hold the high officials of our government accountable for robbing her of what they gave their own kids six or seven years before,” quote Jonathan Kozol. As this quote apptly states many children are often robbed of simple childhood pleasures by standardized testing. These strenuous tests should be cut back to the absolute minimum. Standardized tests should not be required because they provide unnecessary stress, are often inaccurate because of computer and human error, and some students, particularly minorities, are at a clear disadvantage.

“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.

The American educational system has proven to be insufficient in training our children to be well rounded citizens. With so much emphasis placed upon standardized testing, there is little room for personal growth and individuality; instead, our current classroom design forces kids to remain in a box rather than teaching them how to work with their strengths and weaknesses as individuals. With so much emphasis placed upon memorization and drilling, important aspects of childhood development, such as critical thought and the cultivation of creativity, have been abandoned. Rather than instilling a sense of accomplishment and motivation in our students, the educational system has become a force of fear as futures are determined by a test score.

Tests of children in grade two are possibly to be unpredictable. Therefore, the test grades for early children are much less consistent than for elder children. Research clearly displays that for children under fourth grade, the method of taking tests and responding on specialized answer sheets can show more demanding than the perceptive tasks the tests are requesting them to report. Thus the test results are too much prejudiced by children's capacity to fill in bubbles and handle pieces of paper; too little determined by their capacity to delivered. This position paper outlines reasons to oppose standardized testing of second graders, plus the effects on teachers and schools, and then suggests the Early Literacy Assessment.

Don’t we all enjoy waking up before sunrise going to school sitting in the same uncomfortable spot for nearly three or more hours in a stuffy room with no air condition; just to take a test that will simply tell us if we will fail or succeed. Former President of the American Educational Research Association defines standardized test as being, “any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standards predetermined manner (ProCon, 6). It is often administered in multiple choice format. The earliest known history of standardized testing was administered during the 7th century in Imperial China. It was given to people applying for government jobs (ProCon, 6). Since the mid-1800’s it has been a major part if American education history

Stressful standardized testing turns many classrooms into training centers instead of offering an engaging, well-rounded, preparatory environment. Long lectures and teachers preaching causes students to grow bored and dose off ultimately dropping test scores. Students feel like they are nothing more than their test scores, and feel a sense of not knowing who they are. These standardized tests also lead to anxiety and depression in students, and can lead to students feeling like dropping out is the only option. No, standardized testing should not be eliminated completely, but rather be evaluated by universities as well as things such as volunteer hours, extracurricular activities, and grades. “The Essential of a Good Education,” written by Diane Ravitch, states this very clearly. In this aricle: she critizues the education system in America today.

In fact, one student, when asked about standardized testing, mentioned that “testing felt like such a waste,” and that the material covered on the exams “felt really irrelevant and disconnected from what we were doing in class” (Rizga & Hernandez, 2015). Standardized tests do not allow students to freely express themselves and their intriguing, creative imagination, which makes it impossible for a student to show who they truly. Even researchers agree that “teachers and school administrators should resist the urge to rely too heavily on the results from state-mandated standardized tests or any one test” (Tienken, 2015).

Students today have an impeccable ability to absorb information from their teachers and books, and spit it out onto a bubble sheet. Standardized testing provides a platform for students to show off their ability to recite the information which has been drilled into their heads over and over again, rather than actually getting to know the material they’re learning about. Many colleges understand how standardized test scores are misleading in terms of predicting student success. They are biased, and they can only measure one type of learning. Every student has different needs and abilities, because in education, one size does not fit all. Many students struggle with standardized testing, and therefore, develop serious mental illnesses from the stress these tests put on them. America can learn from other countries who do not implement standardized testing, or those who do so sparingly. Giving students the opportunity to exhibit their learning through creative means can be far more effective than forcing students to memorize things they simply do not care about. Standardized testing is ultimately ineffective in improving instruction and student performance, and could be enhanced by allowing students to learn without the pressure of passing a test.

The brilliant Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”. Personally, I think that this quote is a perfect example of how useless standardized tests are. School systems in the U.S. swear by these tests. The people supporting and making the tests seem to never think about the fact that some kids have test anxiety. Even for kids who are good testers, these can not possibly accurately test their abilities. Not to mention that the idea of evaluation teachers by these tests is absolutely ridiculous.

Standardised testing is not accurate for real world application and is taken in unrealistically isolated environment. When taking a test you may not speak look up information or receive help. There is almost no work environment where someone is isolated without recourses.The silent environment along with the mass mesmerizing learning style brought about by standardised testing is pointless. In a job when faced with a problem one may think outside of the box to solve, but the test don’t reflect creativity as they only grade with the basis that only one answer is correct. Another flaw appears when one realises that standardised test don’t reflect practical skill only theoretical knowledge on subjects.

There was a lot of conflict in the past about how people are being educated. Therefore , standardized testing was made to see how much intelligence a person has on a topic .However standardized tests don’t measure how people learn in a classroom . standardized testing is not a good way to test students because tests don’t measure an individual intelligence , tests should not be used to determine funding for school , the teachers cheat on the tests to protect the students ,and its ethically wrong to give a lot of standardized tests to kids .

Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the

Standardized testing is an organized and accurate way to measure a student’s intelligence. “Standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT have been shown to be effective in predicting a student 's future performance in higher education, in the military, and in the workforce” (® Copyright 2005 Colette Kemmerling 95-2), because of this kind of testing, educators are able to make a quick assumption based on scores. It does not take long to understand the student’s capability for learning. There have also been many debates and interviews on this issue. This is Gregory Cizek’s opinion on standardized testing, “It is difficult to conceive of any meaningful accountability system in which rigorous, objective information about student achievement—that is, standardized test data—would not be a necessary component… (The Economist-Procon.com). As