Standardized Testing: For Better or For Worse?

Standardized Testing: For Better or For Worse?

Almost everyone in the U.S. recognizes that standardized testing is a central part of the education system in our country. What many people don’t know though is the history of where it came from. Beginning in the mid-1800s prestigious universities decided they wanted to give more students across the country a better chance at going into higher education, but at the time there wasn’t a way to measure the capabilities of students in both high class and low class families. This is how standardized testing came into play. If a student could do well on these tests regardless of their financial position than their scores would hopefully speak for themselves. Although, now standardized testing performs many more roles compared to its simple origins.

In today’s society standardized tests not only shows the capabilities of the students, but they also show how much they’ve learned, and the results can even decide how much funding a school will receive. Due to these factors, a tremendous amount of pressure it put upon both students and teachers. For students the pressure is to do well, and for teachers the pressure is to teach your students well enough to perform their best. These requirements have become part of what shapes the classroom mold. The goal of schooling is to not longer just teach, but is now also to prepare students for taking exams.

One argument that has become prevalent is the debate of whether or not standardized testing should be used at all. Ultimately this is a personal decision; there’s no right or wrong answer considering that an argument could be made for either side. One thing that’s for certain though is that there has to be some standard for determining one’s abilities...

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...ociation for Supervision and Curriculum Development's Update, 1987) puts this issue into a perspective that presents both the good and bad of this issue.

Regardless of whether standardized testing is replaced entirely or if it’s just edited to become more accurate the fact that changes are needed are obvious. It comes down to what one considers more important. Some say that the tests need to become more consistent, some say that the tests need to be more fair to those who had less of an opportunity for education, and some may even say that the changes aren’t worth the expenses needed to make the changes. In the end standardized testing can’t be blamed alone, and other factors will have to be considered as well. Though, hopefully by the end of the debate the U.S.education system will have learnt, grown, and improved for the sake of future generations of our people.