Standardized Vs Standardized Test

Standardized testing is known to improve students’ education, but is it really needed in school? Standardized testing determines whether a student is prepared for the next grade based on their test scores. While some students do great on their test others struggle a lot. Not all students are good test takers; majority of the students do good in school but struggle when it comes down to testing. While many agree that standardized testing helps improve students education, it shouldn’t be necessary in school because one test score shouldn’t determine a student’s readiness or academic level.

Standardized testing in the United States started in the mid- 1800’s (Standardized Tests - ProCon.org). This kind of testing was originally created to measure students’ performance and progress in school (Standardized Tests - ProCon.org). In recent years, the public school system has relied heavily on the information this test provides, in doing so creating controversy. Other than being a student myself, and participating in multiple standardized exams such as, CSAP, ACT, and SAT, I do not have much background knowledge on this debate. The debate over standardized testing has raised this inquiry question: What are the effects of standardized testing on the United States public education system?

Alarming is an understatement when it comes to the anxiety and stress standardized testing brings. Students are told how vital these tests can be to college acceptance, class placement, and school ranking, so it is no surprise that they lead students to become stressed out and anxious about taking the assessments. According to education researcher Gregory J. Cizek, "illustrating how testing... produces gripping anxiety in even the brightest students, and makes young children vomit or cry, or both" (2). The affect standardized testing has on students is unacceptable, no students should be anxious and uneasy about going to school due to a test. To continue, the Sacramento Bee reported that "test-related jitters, especially among young students,

M., & Barton, K. (2003). Assessing Students With Disabilities: Issues and Evidence. Los Angeles: The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved from http://cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/TR587.pdf

According to Kxan News “Each year, thousands of Texas students don’t graduate high school because they can’t pass the required standardized tests.”(Prazan) These standardized tests are supposed to be used to show the level of academic improvement within each individual student. However, various students who may do well in school and pass all of their classes have ended up failing the state test, which can lead to them not graduating on time. The materials that make up these tests are not always relevant to what should be needed for a student to move on to the next grade in the first place, which is why they should not be the deciding factor on a student's academic future. Standardized tests are known to

Even though there are many downsides to standardized testing there are still viable reasons why they are still being used today. One of the main reasons includes the easy and quick access of testing students. Standardized testing allows schools to quickly access a large amount of students at one time. This is also one of the cheapest ways to tests such a large crowd due to machinery that grades which results in low tests costs for students. These tests also help by setting a national curriculum for all high school teachers to teach in schools. “It provides guidelines for curriculum. Standardized tests give teachers a structure of what needs to be taught. This helps keep classroom material consistent across the country” (“Pros and Cons of

Being completely honest I do not know much about standardized test. I remember having to take them

Being completely honest, I do not know much about standardized test. I remember having to take them

After almost completing a semester in this class and observing in classrooms within the Staten Island elementary education system. I came to the conclusion that most high stake assessments do not accurately reflect a student’s knowledge of the material. Also, that low stake assessments often are the best route to take because you can evaluate how much progress is being made and how much knowledge they have on the topic, without the stress of a high stakes evaluation.

It’s agonizing. Although not a new idea, it is one that is always given the least amount of

Every year students are under the pressure of proving to the state of California their skills. Today it seems that standardized testing is the main focus in public education. Some believe it can detect the abilities of a student. Others think testing does nothing to prove a child understands the academic content. Testing is not correct at detecting students ability to apply their knowledge. Also, it only benefits students that are good at testing, so it sets the rest up to fail.

I hope to prove that standardized testing is not the way to learn about the child's capability of learning or comprehension. I believe that too many tests are standardizing because it's only beneficial to the schools for their gain in state funding. Being a teacher myself, I see often day in; day out. Students have different learning styles and different teaching techniques that one must apply to reach them, and to do so we must go outside the box. So although, standardized testing may be good for some of students we cannot place others on the same plateau. Some of them that lack that basic concentration for a normalized test, and can be missed judged because if the test would be administered in a way to achieve full

Are teachers teaching students how to take standardized test or are teachers teaching students what they need to know in order to become successful? Although being and becoming successful are not the same concept, Standardized test main objective is to “meet each child at their starting point.” which means , it is created to measure each child's potential on a variety of subjects , and successfully bring them to a particular level, which each school district set because they think its the correct path to success. All through elementary school to high school , students are introduced to , two different kinds of standardized test . One of the tests are called the aptitude tests which predicts how well students are likely to perform on a particular task which

Responsibilities of Users of Standardized Test (RUST), is a way to ensure fairness and accuracy of assessments. RUST was created to ensure testing assessments are implemented properly. Test selection is a section in RUST; I believe to have the utmost importance. Test selection involves selecting the proper test for a specific purpose. It is essential to match the tests characteristics to the test takers characteristics. The purpose of test selection includes a tests description, accountability, prediction, and program evaluation. The tests conclude its appropriateness to the test taker by examining characteristics of test taker, accuracy of scoring, norming procedures, modifications, and fairness (RUST, 2003a).

Standardized tests are annoying little things that students in schools all across the nation have to take every year. Though, if all the facts are taken into consideration, they do not really seem worth it, do they? Many people speculate whether or not they are actually measuring a student’s intelligence or anything like that. It seems that students do not necessarily have to learn the material, only memorize it for a short period of time. The question has to be raised, though-- what exactly qualifies a test to be a standardized test? Well, as described by The Glossary of Education Reform, there are two main things that make a test standardized. The first being that the test “...requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or