Arguments Against Standardized Testing

Standardized tests are exams generated to measure a student’s academic performance. The use of standardized testing in the United States is a controversial issue as some people favor the issue while other people oppose it. Although proponents say standardized tests are a fair and objective measure of student achievement, standardized tests should be opted out as they are an unreliable measure of student performance, they are unfair and discriminatory, and they are extremely costly to make. First, standardized test are an unfair way to measure a student’s performance throughout the school year. Different teachers have different teaching styles and teach different things to their students. What one teacher might think is significant for students to learn might be different from what another teacher believes is important or what the state believes. So, instead of these standardized tests measuring what is learned in class day by day until the end of the school year, they come to the

These tests advantage white students and disadvantage the minorities in the United States. For example, passing a standardized test based on the English subject may be a walk in the park for a white student born and raised in the United States. However, on the other hand, a student who has immigrated into the United States from another country who does not know too much English is expected to take these tests and pass them or else they will not be able to graduate or advance to the next grade level. It is unfair for those students, such as students involved in ESOL programs to be expected to pass such standardized tests in order to be academically promoted. In addition, researchers have documented the biases in standardized tests. Across different age groups, standardized tests discriminate against lower-income students, English language learners, and students of