Standardized Testing: The Effect Of Stress On Students

According to education researcher Gregory J. Cizek, these tests are not helping the child. They’re hurting them. He knows that teacher need to show off what their students know, but he just doesn't understand why we have to do these tests. He can tell by his work that more than half of kids have an anxiety toward testing. The student may know a lot, but will freeze during the test. “Standardized testing can create a lot of stress for both educators and students. Excellent teachers quit the profession every day because of how much stress is on them. Students especially feel the pressure when there is something meaningful tied to them. In Oklahoma, high school students must pass four standardized tests in various areas, or they do not earn a diploma, even if their GPA was a 4.00. The stress this can cause on a teenager is not healthy in any way,” he states. His plan is to show people that this is a wrong thing to do and is unhealthy for both educators and the

These tests have been faulty and inadequate for use of assessment when given electronically. Also, the stress put on students to perform well overworks their brain, giving them poorer scores than hoped for. Both students and teachers have been so worried by the scores that they have cheated to get the scores they truly hope for, leading to inaccurate results for the entire school system. Nonetheless, schools are still using these results to define their students’ intelligence and refine their schedules for upcoming years. These assessments are so important to the state’s performance rate of students, yet they are not proven to provide accurate information of the population’s true aptitude. If the government continues to administer such defective evaluations to the people we will lose the true value of an education across the nation, and the stress levels of students and teachers will continue to rise at an inordinate

Standardized tests can place a huge amount of stress on students and teachers. Some students do well with certain levels of stress, others not so much. A lot of students suffer from what is called test anxiety which hinders performance. Studies suggest that too much stress is psychologically and physically harmful. Stress is so overwhelming that the brain shifts into a “fight or flight” response. Which means that it is impossible to engage in a higher order thinking process that

This causes an endless cycle of stress between studying for one test, waiting for scores, and then studying for the next test. Not only are these hard working students stressed because of standardized testing, but their teachers are too. These teachers spend valuable class time drilling the basic fundamentals involved with standardized testing into their students, because they are necessary for success on standardized tests. However, the fundamentals can only help so much on these tests, and the rest of the work is up to the student. Teachers are often then evaluated based on their students’ performances, causing them to be stressed.

The stress settled in once the word ‘testing’ echoed through the classroom. The students knew what it brought, and they knew how dreadful it would be; sitting in one room, hour after hour and day after day, silent and still, with only the sound of the clock resonating through their heads. Standardized tests are assessments that local and national governments may require their students to take. However, these tests do not properly evaluate their intellect, and only lead to tension and mental strain on a student’s attentiveness. Although many schools believe that these assessments are productive, it is proven that they are not beneficial to students because standardized testing leads to stress and anxiety, it is wasting valuable classroom time,

Clammy hands, extreme anxiety, and increased heart rate are all symptoms that occur along side standardized tests. Standardized tests have found their way into the center of American education. These achievement tests are used to determine a student’s performance in particular content areas for a certain school year. The student’s scores are then cross referenced to the scores of all other students that took the same test (Haladyna). Many students work hard during their educational careers, only to do poorly on a standardized test and lose their chances at being accepted into any decent college. Standardized tests are not beneficial to the student nor to the teacher and are sometimes even harmful. Students should be given standardized tests less frequently and educators should place less emphasis on scores students receive on these tests. Standardized exams favor upper-class majority students, decrease the quality of public education, and ineffectively measure a student’s achievement.

Another problem with standardized tests is that they cause unnecessary stress for students of all ages. There has been an increase in stressful standardized tests that is somewhat disconcerting. “By the late 1980s, most states required some type of mandatory testing; by 1991, students who completed high school took, on average, 18-21 standardized tests in their career…”(Solley). Standardized tests can be demanding for many students. Students who are not natural test takers can have difficulty achieving proficiency on

Standardized tests, the monster all students have to face. These “important” tests are known to cause high amounts of stress on not only students, but also teachers, causing them to “teach to the test.” This, and the stress, can negatively affect a student’s potential to learn as much as they possibly can. Studies have proven that standardized tests also are not reliable for many reasons. One reason being, standardized tests do not even accurately measure how much an individual student has learned.

Education shouldn´t be based on the “teaching to the test” model, which “accounts for any method of education whose curriculum is greatly focused on preparing students for a standardized tests” (Dillon). This "teaching to the test" model is affecting both teachers and students negatively. First, this model creates a lot of stress on both educators and students. As Columbia´s University Office of Work and Life affirms, “standardized tests place a huge amount of stress on students and teachers alike. This can lead to negative health consequences as well as feelings of negativity directed at school and learning in general” (Columbia). By personal experience and knowledge I have gained through the years, I know that distress can lead to physical

Everyone has dealt with stress before a test, but the test anxiety that students are developing, may be hurting their standardized test scores, and lowering their chances of improvement. A study done by the School Boards Association and the State Association of School Psychologists discovered that nearly three quarters of psychologists from the United State’s 700 school districts found that state mandated standardized tests are causing more anxiety than local exams (Spector). The conditions the children are being put through are ridiculous. Hours and hours of nonstop testing with only a few breaks would even stress out parents, let alone children. Not only do they feel pressure to pass the test, but also to do great, and it is not just their own minds burdening themselves with stress and worry. A recent survey showed that, “…nearly 90 percent of school psychologists who responded to the survey believed that teachers’ expectations contributed at least somewhat to test anxiety. Eighty-eight percent said that parents’ expectations also contributed to students’

In life today society is surrounded by numbers, in particular schools districts depends on data from tests to evaluate how they perform in comparison to other districts. Students who attend public or private schools are subjected to take certain standardized tests to measure their academic achievements throughout their school life. Studies show, that these test do not always help student’s academic growth, in fact some researchers show that standardized test may hurt students in the long run. Due to the fact that retention is a possibility for students who perform low on standardized test, these students may develop test anxiety and disengagement from their academic career. An example in 2015 is that, the overall performance of student failing

Standardized testing produces stressors which affect the performance of students and teachers, but the pressure to succeed on one test in order to earn college admission takes a toll on adolescents. School districts taking precautions because students often get sick over standardized tests displays the taxing effects of these examinations. Naturally, exams need to be given to measure how well

Through the eyes of the educator, standardized testing comes with major pressure and fear. According to a study done by the National Education Association, who surveyed over 1,500 PreK-12 teachers, 72% of teachers reported feeling "moderate" or "extreme" pressure from school administrators to increase test scores. With so many educators feeling this stressful pressure, it can create a negative atmosphere in the classroom, and ultimately alter how students feel. Along with this, educators may start to worry more about their needs to get a good teacher evaluation, rather than the students ' needs to receive an education.

“Teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests,” Barack Obama. W. James Popham of ascd.com says “If a schools standardized test scores are high, people think the schools staff if effective. But if the schools scores are low they assume the schools teaching methods are not effective.” Some believe they can be good because they focus on certain skills and eliminate time wasting activates that make learning enjoyable. Although some may believe them to be beneficial, standardized testing shouldn’t exist because they cause severe stress in students, are unfair, and they do not prepare kids for the real world.

“One teacher, distressed by being singled out, committed suicide days after the individual teacher results were released from the standardized testing scores” (Kuehn 69-75).The amount of stress from standardized testing results is unbelievable especially if it will determine your fate as a teacher. Students were told to take a test and the results would determine if the teacher stays or if the teacher was fired (Kuehn 69-75). Due to unbalanced standardized test scores, schools should not use standardized tests as the only piece of reflective information.