Test day, a day of struggle for American students constantly throughout their academic career. Whether the test be the SAT or an annual state exam, students usually do not seem mentally prepared for the massive task at hand. A test like the SAT could possibly determine the immediate futures of these individuals. However, are these complex assessments successfully examining the academics of the student body? Students should not be evaluated using standardized testing because they do not effectively measure a student’s complete academic capability. These tests limit the amount of true knowledge an individual can express in one sitting.
Through the system of standardized testing, certain attributes cannot be accounted for. Multiple attributes such as “self-discipline” and “leadership” are disregarded in the creation of standardized tests (Harris et al. 1). These valuable traits are not only being disregarded, but they are also becoming lost in the midst of standards. Therefore, these crucial life skills are fading away in the lifestyle and motives of the upcoming generation. This lack of common sense could lead to a future of failure due to the dearth of awareness to the important issues of society.
On the contrary, there are better ways to determine if a student has a keen success in their education. According to a study conducted by The National Center for Fair and Open Testing observed that “students with higher high school GPAs performed better in college, regardless of drooping test scores in their records” (Brown 1). This research means that Standardized Testing does not truly depict the potential that a student has to succeed. On one hand, a student could have a 4.0 GPA, but score poorly on the SAT, and be denied a chance...
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...sues in Science and Technology 29.1 (2012): 33+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Layton, Lyndsey. "Testing fight brews in Common Core era." Washington Post 12 Feb. 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
"The Pressure to Meet Targets Has Caused Teachers to Cheat." Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "GBI Reveals Why
Cheating Occurred in Atlanta Public Schools." Teacher World 10 July 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Walberg, Herbert J. "Standardized Tests Effectively Measure Student Achievement." Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "Stop the War Against Standardized Tests." Defining Ideas: A Hoover Institution Journal (20 May 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
Since this test has been devised, the number one question everybody is asking is, “ isn’t it unfair to base a student’s entire future on one test, when he or she simply could have had a bad day when taking the test”? The president Kirk T. Schroder of the Virginia Board of Education, answer this question by saying, “First of all, these tests are untimed, so no student is under arbitrary time pressure in taking the test.
A scholarly journal written by an anonymous author sheds light on the importance of standardized testing by showing its efficiency in higher level education. This article provides a solid counterargument for the use of standardized tests which is standardized tests being a good source of predicting grades throughout college as well as whether students will stay long enough to graduate. It is also able to establish that the SAT is effective in forecasting a grade-point average through the fourth year as well as predicting students study habits. The
... a tedious process, but the change can have immense, positive effects for the future college student. The ACT and SAT that supposedly measure a student's learning potential through multiple-choice questions should be replaced by a test of a student's desire to learn determined through the analysis of essays, recommendation letters, and school or community involvement. This change can result in a more academically motivated freshman class. Standardized testing in its current form does not accurately measure most students' learning potential. It does not allow for diversity and creates a huge hurdle for many potential academic achievers. An adjustment to a diverse, open testing format of the ACT or SAT and a stress on the student's other academic accomplishments can accurately measure the student's desire to learn, therefore measuring the student's learning potential.
Even with material being taught incessantly, standardized tests can not accurately measure a student’s ability. The tests are “single-target—meaning that every student, no matter what level of achievement or ability, course selection, or cu...
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
Standardized testing has been proven to be biased towards those of ethnic and socioeconomic disadvantaged groups. Wealthy students become more prepared for standardized tests through better life experiences, such as top-quality schools and test prep tutors. Steven Syverson implies that students with high SAT scores are presumed to be “bright” and encouraged to consider the most selective colleges, with no regard to their academic performance in high school (57). Those students that were considered elite, but did not perform well their parents suggested to admission counselors that they were “not challenged” in high school (Syverson 57). According to Marchant and Paulson, race, parent education, and family income were found to account as much as 94% of the variance in scores among states (85:62). Students that belong to multiple disadvantage categories suffered greatly in the scoring criteria. The majority of students with socioeconomic disadvantages are discouraged from attending college. However, those that choose to further their education are more than likely the first ones in their family to attend college. Due to the large debate involving the admissions process using the SAT score, more colleges have adopted the SAT Optional policy because it is “consistent with their institutional mission and
Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these tests do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a student.
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
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, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Standardized testing remains to be a major controversial issue for the American society today. Exams are given to students at different levels in their educational career and are supposed to measure their academic knowledge, but are these tests really the best way to evaluate students? There have been numerous alternatives suggested to replace or be used in conjunction with standardized testing.
“If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that.” This quote by Michelle Obama illustrates the idea that standardized testing should not have such a large influence on education in America. However, a majority of people are under the impression that standardized tests are an accurate method to measure a person's intellectual ability. I believe that standardized tests have developed into a very critical part of the American education system that is hindering the growth of students and teachers instead of providing a tool that can accurately measure knowledge.
Based on the Programme for International Student Assessment’s 2012 results (PISA), the United States has ranked 30th in comparison to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) participating countries. The United States, a country that has once held the ideal for educational standards, has now ranked just slightly above other countries that are just being developed. By using high-stakes test statistics to drive America’s educational standards, classrooms are beginning to lose their meaning of helping students to learn and grow as individuals. Because of classrooms just teaching the test are beginning to lose the meaning of helping students to learn and grow as individuals, results of high stakes testing which can be affected by the minutest details, are not a reasonable way to judge overall student competency; a better alternative would be by performance based assessments. “Test developers are obliged to create a series of one-size-fits-all assessments. But, as most of us know from attempting to wear one-size-fits-all garments, sometimes one size really can’t fit all.” (Popham, James W.). High stakes tests are not a reasonable way to judge overall student competency because educators can not expect to have accurate and precise results in just one sitting for 12 years of learning. Although tests pose an important role in education, they should not be given such high stakes of determining if a student should be rejected from a college “based solely on the fact that their score wasn’t high enough” (Stake, Robert.).
How to deliver best education to students is a question that has been debated for decades. The definition of having a “good” education may differ for many—is it receiving a satisfactory report card? Is it being accepted into an appraised university? Or is it achieving an adequate score on a nationwide standardized exam? These exams are becoming more and more popular in various nations. Colleges in the United States are gradually increasing the emphasis of the importance of the ACT and the SAT; South Korea is continuing to pressure its students to excel on its Scholastic Aptitude Test; but Finland, on the other hand, rejects the idea of pushing these exams. Tests are used to compare students and schools to others and maintain a consistent way of measuring education levels throughout a country, but they are mainly used to roughly gauge a student’s competence. At times, a student’s future could be reliant on a single test score. This type of testing may be doing more harm than good, proving that this is not really necessary for students to be fully educated. Standardized tests, instead of promoting the achievement of an education, are in fact doing the opposite by limiting learning and deemphasizing the significance of characteristics such as individuality and creativity, ultimately having a harmful effect on students.
Too much emphasis is put on standardized testing for college admissions. Standardized testing is the number one way to enroll students in to college. Standardized testing has its pros and cons when it comes to college admissions. The ACT and SAT avenues play a major part in students’ lives more than actual school life. Student-athletes have a much harder stint with college admissions than most when it comes to standardized testing (“arguments”). For example, two young men, John and Greg, plays high school football with the dream of playing at a college level. Both have the same athletic talent, but John had a 3.5 GPA while Greg had a 2.0 GPA. Scores are received and John made a 17 and Greg makes a 24. While both student-athletes have equal talent, most schools in the country would only want Greg despite John’s 3.5 GPA. Is that fair? Did Greg prepare better than John? Was John having a bad day? Was Greg’s version of the test so different, which if John would ...