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Standardized Testing Flaws

Decent Essays

First, a classroom must have a strong focus of balance. “Balance is so very important in a classroom, when having to deal with different ability levels you must be able to challenge the advanced students and adjust activities for the lower level students, there must be a balance!” (Madigan) The idea of balance is crucial to each student’s success rate. If teachers are able to successfully do this, testing shouldn’t be necessary and can be used a lot less frequently. There is a time for tests, just in moderation.
Standardized testing does have its place in school. Often times it is misused and overused. “Measuring what and how well students learn is an essential building block in the process of strengthening and improving our nation's schools. …show more content…

They do not do an acceptable job in furthering a child’s learning. Learning is much more than a test. There are students that may do very well at choosing the right answer, but not truly be learning anything that will help them later on in life. “Standardized tests, by virtue of being multiple-choice, don’t allow for students to express themselves.” (Evans) Students learn the most by expressing themselves to others. Bringing to light the flaws in standardized testing, this shows that in reality, these tests hold students back in their learning. Since standardized testing is such a big part, other important things are being held back from students because of the time in the classroom that is spent preparing students for these …show more content…

“A national 2007 study by the Center on Education Policy reported that since 2001, 44% of school districts had reduced the time spent on science, social studies and the arts by an average of 145 minutes per week in order to focus on reading and math. A 2007 survey of 1,250 civics, government, and social studies teachers showed that 75% of those teaching current events less often cited standardized tests as the reason.” (Standardized Tests Pros and Cons) Material that will not be on the test is not being taught which means that students are being limited to what they learned based on the test. This is causing teachers to begin teaching to the test. The term “teach to the test” means that students are not gaining any knowledge but what they will be tested on. In school, students have the right to be taught more than what will just be on the test. School is about growing and learning about the world around, and to help generations to come. Students are just being taught for a test, which makes the tests not a complete accurate measure of what a student can do

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