The Disadvantages Of Standardized Testing

Standardized tests must be improved. Instead of traditional standardized testing, random testing should be put in place and tests themselves should be reconstructed to promote fairness, reduce errors and and more accurately assess student’s knowledge. Testing should be done to random groups of students on random dates throughout the year. There will be a large enough group of students to give a good idea of how well material is being taught but a small enough group that not everyone needs to take the test.

Cheating is a major problem with standardized tests. Cheating leads to inaccurate test scores (Dolezalek 71). In many cases of it is the teachers that are the ones cheating. “About 10 percent of the teachers admitted to providing hints about the answers during the test administration; about 10 percent pointed out mismarked items by students; about 15 percent of the teachers provided more time for the test than was allowed; and about 5 percent of the teachers engaged in instruction during the test” (Dolezalek 73). Teachers can also cheat by altering finished tests by filling in blank answers or fixing the answers at the end of the test which tend to be the hardest (Dolezalek 75). Teachers are often pushed by administrators who also cheat for their schools. “In July 2011 the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released a report on the Atlanta Public Schools charging a widespread cheating conspiracy over a ten year period by 178 teachers, principals and administrators to fix answers on the statewide competency test” (“Pressure Caused Teachers to Cheat”). The fact that federal budgets can be determined by tests causes some schools and states to cheat (Dolezalek 76). Schools cheat because the system for determining budgets makes n...

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...argets 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 4 March 2014.

“Why Can Some Kids Handle the Pressure While Others Fall Apart?” The New York Times. The New York Times, 6 Feb. 2013. Web. 10 March 2014.

“Why Standardized Tests Don’t Measure Educational Quality.” ASCD. Educational Leadership, March 1999. Web. 10 March 2014.

Walberg, Herbert J. “Standardized Tests Effectively Measure Student Achievement.” Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. of “Stop the War Against Standardized Tests.” Defining Ideas: A Hoover Institution Journal. (20 May 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 March 2014.