High-Stakes Tests are Detrimental to the Future of Our Children

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High-Stakes Tests are Detrimental to the Future of Our Children

Almost every person who has graduated from high school has taken the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), which is generally used for college admissions. We all remember the stress of taking a test that could affect our future educational plans. Now due to the “No Child Left Behind Act” of 2001, this kind of test is now being administered to children from the 3rd to 8th grades as a way to determine if the school or teachers are educating them properly. High-stakes standardized tests of this nature should not be used to determine the educational abilities of either schools or the teachers.

Standardized tests have been around for quite a while now, and are used by a large number of schools. These tests are developed by large educational companies, and because they are distributed to such a large number of schools, they’re used as a standard with which to compare students from the state in which they reside, or across the U.S. Most of these tests are fill in the bubble, multiple-choice, versus essay tests, which are more expensive for the schools to have graded. Some of the better known standardized tests are: SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test), ACT (American College Test), CAT (California Achievement Test), ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills), and TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills).

These tests have been used by high schools and colleges to determine if a student has the knowledge needed to succeed in college. It is felt by a large number of students, teachers, and others in the education field, that these tests are not a true representation of what the students know, but rather how well the students can take a test. Standardized tests do not show how well a student does in class work, homework, self-study, or their response to learning.

The “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) act (P.L. 107-110), was signed into law by George Bush in 2001 to replace the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. NCLB has as one of its major requirements that all students from 3rd to 8th grade be required to take a standardized tests every year, and once in grades 9-12, these tests are on the subjects of math and reading, and must be expanded to science by 2007. In addition to the tests, states must implement an accountability system using the same assessment for all public schools in ...

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... performed that one day. Scores might be different on a different day, a different time, if the student’s mood is good or bad, or is tired.

There is also the variable of the economics of one school compared to another. Some schools have more money to spend on study materials and sample tests than other schools. It is widely known that most inner-city schools have very little money to spend on supplies for teachers and students and therefore are placed at a disadvantage when compared to a suburban school with a broader range of incomes. Should we allow economics to determine that a school is not able to educate our children because they couldn’t afford to buy as many practice tests as a school with a larger budget?

These reasons, and many more, are why standardized tests should not be allowed to be the sole determining factor in how good a school is for our children. We should look at all of the factors which contribute to the learning environment in our schools and not just at how well our students can take tests.

1. "Education–Mandatory Testing," 2003 Policy Summary by the Center for Policy Alternatives http://www.pta.org/ptawashington/issues/testing.asp

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