The Importance Of Standardized Testing

In the commentary ‘The Value of Standardized Testing” (2013), Dr. Gail Gross, an educator specialized in curriculum and instruction, asserts that despite the influx of negative reviews, standardized testing has a positive impact on student performance, curriculum evaluation, and education integrity. Gross develops her implication by utilizing a three-pronged argumentative structure to analyze both the short term and long term advantages that standardized tests have on student growth, both individually and collectively. The author’s purpose is to persuade the readers to transform their opinions about the subject and emphasize the importance of these assessments on a student’s success in school in order to respond to and criticize an article

Today, it can be observed that society has shifted education drastically from the time schools were constituted, to now. Throughout history, schools have gone from private, where only the elite can attend, to public schools where virtually anyone can attend. One of the factors that goes along with education is standardized testing. Frederick J. Kelly, father of the standardized test, once said, “These tests are too crude to be used, and should be abandoned.” Not only has this shift occurred within education itself, but it has occurred within the testing concepts found within standardized testing so much so that the founder of these tests has chosen to give up on it.

Research shows that the use of standardized testing has spanned centuries, some of the earlier studies include data from the early 1900’s. According to Frazier (2009), “there is a significant difference in scores on standardized tests when students have completed a technology education program”. This study shows a correlation between the use of technology within the school system and achievement on standardized tests. Students that are exposed to technology education are more likely to do well on standardized tests.

Standardized tests. Like them or not, they are everywhere. And everybody has their opinion about it, whether they are useful or not. Many say that they are harmful as they put kids under pressure and stress. Others say they help kids learn and scale kids with other school systems and nations. Lots of evidence shows that they are indeed useful, but I believe there are also several weaknesses, and improvements that can be made to fix them; the biggest being a pre and post test. Standardized tests can also have more focused lessons that lead to more undemanding goals, which can let teachers use their own teaching methods to eventually meet with the same goal.

Standardized testing has become a yearly fixture in classrooms around the United States. Legislation such as No Child Left Behind holds educators and administrators responsible for the learning of students. One way to assess this learning is through the use of a standardized test, the results of which can be compared to a predetermined benchmark. I believe it’s a good idea to hold educators accountable for the work they perform in the classroom and to hold school administrators accountable for education outcomes. However, the means by which this accountability is currently being evaluated—standardized testing—is detrimental to both schools and students alike, and it should be discontinued. Standardized testing of young children produces potentially meaningless results, is potentially discriminatory against certain populations, and forces educators to modify their instruction (potentially for the worse) in an effort to avoid being punished for not meeting required benchmarks.

'Tis the season for college applications, and as a senior in high school this bring a lot of stress to me and I am not the only one. "Teens across the U.S. are standing by their mailboxes, waiting anxiously for the envelopes that will seal their academic fate. It's college admissions season and for many students a lot hinges on how well they performed in standardized testing"(Sheffer). As I have gone throughout my high school career I have achieved a 4.0 GPA. However, despite my hard work, my GPA will be looked at but the main focus of the decision process will be based on my ACT scores, and because I received a 25 this is very stressful to me. Although a 25 is not horrible, it will jeopardize some of the chances I would have getting into a

tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same,

Stress and Test Anxiety in Schools: Are Test Scores Really the Most Important Factor in Education?

Every year high school sophomores around the nation wake up early one day in October to take the standardized test most commonly known as the PSAT. There are many other standardized tests; the most known being the PSAT, SAT and ACT. The reason students take these standardized tests is because of the No Child Left Behind Act implemented in 2002 by President George W. Bush. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, it is required that, “states develop and implement challenging academic standards in reading and math, set annual statewide progress objectives to ensure that all groups of students reach proficiency… and then test children annually… to measure their progress.” (“The New Rules”). Although there has been speculations about standardized testing being detrimental to the student and anyone who uses the test scores, it is clear that these tests are beneficial rather than harmful.

Education has been an important part of society for centuries. Over the years it has slowly evolved into what it is today. The topic of education has been controversial since the beginning. It seems as though there is always someone that sees a need for change in how students are being taught and assessed. More specifically, many people think that standardized testing is not an effective way to assess students. While on the other hand, many also believe that standardized testing is the most efficient and effective way to assess people of all ages. The debate over standardized testing has been shown to effect students and the community in many different ways. Standardized assessments have had huge impacts with both teachers and students. Whether one thinks standardized testing is effective and efficient or misdirecting and unproductive it is a big part of the educational system. While the argument may present that standardized tests leads to simulated knowledge, others argue that standardized tests are very effective in assessing students.

Standardized testing has been around since the mid 1800’s. Even though testing has been around for a long time it is still debated whether or not it should precisely “score” students. Students have been subjected to standardized tests frequently through their years in school due to laws which have been passed by Congress. Decisions about the evaluation of schools and students are recurrently made by government authority and are often not in the best interest of teachers, students, or their classroom environments.

Michelle Obama once said, “If my future were determined by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.” Standardized testing is, “any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, in the same way, and that is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner” (edglossary.org, Standardized Test). Standardized testing is used in most schools and is used to determine the futures of many student’s educations. These tests usually have sets of multiple choice, or true or false questions that are to be answered within a limited amount of time. Many people think that this is the only way to accurately measure a student’s individual intelligence. Even though almost all schools make students

Ever since standardized testing started being used as a way to evaluate the intelligence of students and the teachers’ ability to educate, the standard of actual education has been diminished immensely. Standardized testing is used in most public and private schools to analyze students’ knowledge. It has affected the way in which students learn and has corrupted the methods teachers use to educate. In some cases, English-Learning and disabled students face discrimination from teachers since teachers have more responsibility to have a high number of passing students. Some countries around the world don’t use standardized tests to rank their students or schools and yet they have been successful. Standardized tests are not efficient on making students learn, they should not be used to evaluate students’ knowledge.

Standardized tests are exams that are supposed to measure a child’s academic knowledge but have long been a controversial subject of discussion. Although it is one method to see how a child is performing, is it the best method? Standardized testing can be biased or unfair, inhibit both the teacher’s and the children’s creativity and flexibility, affect funding for schools, cause untested subjects to be eliminated from the curriculum, and cause anxiety for children and teachers.

The debate on standardized tests and its adequacy in testing a student’s knowledge about a subject has been going on for many years. Tests, in general, has been around for centuries and without them there would not be progress and no gleams of progress. Students ranging from elementary school to high school have experienced standardized testing. Teachers, educators, and parents are also involved in the students’ lives, which revolves around the tests, one way or another. There are many views on standardized test. However, the three most common views are: educators who are for standardized test which benefits students, educators who are at the other extreme of opposing standardized tests, and educators who view tests are a benefit if done in appropriate amounts.