The Disadvantages of Standardized Testing

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.

Standardized tests can also be biased or unfair because questions on these tests necessitate understanding and abilities that typically children from advantaged families have (Kohn, A, 2000). Children who live in poorer communities have a disadvantage because they may not have the tools available to them that are available to the more affluent areas. Their test scores tend to be lower; thereby failing to continue to higher education.

The SAT test has been accused of being ethnically prejudice. An example of this is in the English portion of the test. If a question asks, which of the following sentences is proper English, “The man got himself a dog” versus “The man got hisself a dog”, a child who lives in a poorer area may pick the second sentence because that may be the way other people around him speak (Masserli, J, 2003).

Standardized tests can also be biased against minority children. Many times children from Mexico will face words that totally are foreign to them; consequently, they do not do as well on these standardized tests. It is impossible to gauge their knowledge of a subject if they don’t comprehend the questions being asked. A child’s ability to move on to the next grade or be accepted into a good college should also ...

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...ective, and practical.

Works Cited

Fair Test. (December 17, 2007). The Dangerous Consequences of High-Stakes Standardized Testing. Fair Test, The National Center for Fair and Open Testing. Retrieved from

http://fairtest.org/dangerous-consequences-highstakes-standardized-tes.

Kohn, A. (September 27, 2000). Standardized Testing and Its Victims. Education Week.

Retrieved from http://alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/staiv.htm.

Meikle, S. (2014). Embracing Our Creativity. Independent School, 73(2), 64.

Messerli, J. (October 2,2003). Should K-12 Students Be Required to Complete Standardized Minimum Skills Test? Balanced Politics.org. Retrieved from

http://balancedpolitics.org/school_testing.htm

Paul, A. (2013). Relax It’s Only a Test. Time, 181(15), 42-45.

Slon, S. (2013). Teaching to the Test Gets an “F”. Saturday Evening Post, 285(5), 47-49.