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The problems with standardized testing
Arguments against standardized testing
Impact standardized tests have on education
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The use of standardized testing in public schools was mandated in 2001 by George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act and is supported by the Obama administration. In recent years, it has triggered an expanding controversy against standardized tests and the use of students' scores to evaluate teachers, schools, districts, and states. Some individuals argue that standardized testing benefits students, teachers, and schools by ensuring that they are held accountable. The truth is standardized testing does not accurately reflect student’s abilities and is potentially hurting today’s students.
Many believe that government mandated standardized tests are potentially hurting the education students are receiving. Complaints about standardized testing
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“Proponents say standardized tests are a fair and objective measure of student ability, that they ensure teachers and schools are accountable to taxpayers, and that the most relevant constituents--parents and students--approve of testing” ("ProCon.Org"). The opposition believes that standardized testing is “neither fair nor objective, and that their use promotes a narrow curriculum and drill-like ‘teaching to the test.’ Standardized testing impairs student’s abilities to become ‘innovators and critical thinkers’” ("ProCon.Org"). Many parents are highly involved when it comes to the debate on the benefits of standardized testing, and their children’s education is not their only interest: "One parent [who boycotted standardized tests] said her district warned her last year that it might file truancy charges if her children were absent repeatedly on test days, but none was filed" ( LaFerrara). Standardized testing is not only used in the evaluation of students, but also in the evaluation of teachers across the country: “As for teachers, their jobs could hinge on ‘drill-and-kill test prep’ (also called ‘teaching to the test’) rather than their ability to educate students” (LaFerrara). Students and teachers abilities should be measured on how they perform in the classroom instead of a performance …show more content…
“The U.S. Congress is--eight years late--taking up the rewriting of No Child Left Behind, and one of the key issues under discussion is just how big the federal footprint on local public schools should be. No Child Left Behind requires that students take an annual standardized test for purposes of holding schools ‘accountable’ from Grades 3-8 and once in high school” (Strauss, Principal). In recent years, legislation has created new government-funded markets for education entrepreneurs. Standardized tests have caused spending to shift away from the salaries, benefits, and pensions of teachers into standardized testing, curriculum, and technology. Teachers are no longer being taught to tailor their curriculum to meet a variety of students' needs and interests, but instead are being encouraged to focus more on preparing for standardized testing. Productivity is no longer what a student learns throughout an individualized education, but what each student’s productivity measures as from a score (Antush, John C.). Standardized testing can help make sure children are on the right track for their education, but it can also create problems and allow teachers to create a less diverse, unique, and beneficial educational opportunity for their
This is precisely the problem. Standardized tests are old and outdated, and the harm they cause to America’s education system by far outweighs the benefits. These tests were intended to monitor and offer ways to improve how public schools function, but instead they have impaired the natural learning ability of students and imposed upon the judgment of experienced educators. Although a means to evaluate the progress of public schools is necessary, it is also necessary to develop more modern and effective ways of doing so. Standardized testing mandated by the federal and state governments has a negative effect on the education of America’s youth.
Another major criticism of the “No Child Left Behind” deals with the implications of using a standardized test as means of assessing achievement.
Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the sentiments of the authors and their insight into standardized examination. The articles provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that standardized tests are not effective at measuring a teacher’s competency because they do not take into account the school environment and its effect on the students.
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
Standardized testing assesses students, teachers, and the school itself, which puts a great deal of pressure on the students. High scores show that the school is effective in teaching students, while low test scores make teachers and schools look as though they are not teaching the students properly. This is not always the case. There are teachers who do teach students what they need to know to pass the test, but their students are still unprepared. Although teachers try to improve instruction, student performance is still variable to other factors that the school cannot control.
Despite the view that there is too much standardized testing, a majority of respondents said parents should not excuse their children from tests. A majority also said they think test scores are "somewhat important" in judging the effectiveness of their local schools.
In 2002, President George W. Bush passed the “No Child Left Behind Act” which tied in schools’ public funding to standardized tests and enforced the tests in elementary and high schools every year by state education departments. This law also began to put more emphasize on standardized tests which has diminished our level of education and the law “made standardized test scores the primary measure of school quality” (Diane Ravitch 28). Bush hoped this law motivated more students to do well on these exams and teachers to help them prepare better, but it ended up hurting many schools in the process. These exams like the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) should not play such a prominent role in schooling and the government should not make tests the main focal point.
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
Parents and advocates of education can all agree that they want their students to be in the best hands possible in regards to education. They want the best teachers, staffs, and schools to ensure their student’s success. By looking at the score results from standardized testing, teachers can evaluate effectively they are doing their job. On the other side, a proponent for eliminating standardized testing would argue that not all students care passionately about their education and will likely not perform to expectations on the test. However, receiving the numerical data back, teachers can construe the student’s performances and eliminate the outliers of the negligent kids. Teachers can then look at the individual scores and assign those outliers to get the help they need in school. This helps every student getting an equal chance at education. Overall, taking a practice standardized test can let a teacher look at individual questions and scores and interpret what they need to spend more time on teaching. A school also can reap the benefits from standard testing to ensure they are providing the best possible education they can. The school can look at the average scores from a group and hold the teacher accountable for the student’s results on the test. The school can then determine the best course of action to pursuit regarding the teacher’s career at the school. By offering teachers and schools the opportunity to grow and prosper, standardized testing is a benefit for the entire education
Argument Against Standardized Testing President Bush is promoting annual standardized testing for all students in grades three through eight. This bill is currently being considered in Congress, and has garnered much support. As of right now, 15 states test students in those grades, and more than 20 have high school exit exams, which look only at the test score of a student, not at his or her academic achievements. Standardized testing is an unfair and inaccurate form of judging a person’s intellect. In many cases, people are either over- or underrepresented by their test scores, partly because America does not currently have the capabilities to fairly score the increasing number of tests.
The Education Reform Movement of the 1980’s has cast a bright spotlight on high schools (Archbald, and Newmann 7). Parents wish to see how their child is doing in school so they look at the results from the standardized tests. School boards want accountability, proof that the amount of money they spent on education that year is making an impact on student achievement. This amount of pressure has led to an increased reliance on testing in order to monitor the achievement of students, more specifically, competency and norm-referenced standardized tests. Although the results from standardized tests are widely accepted today as trustworthy and effective measures of educational outcomes by some, other’s views on standardized testing have shifted
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Standardized testing is not an effective way to test the skills and abilities of today’s students. Standardized tests do not reveal what a student actually understands and learns, but instead only prove how well a student can do on a generic test. Schools have an obligation to prepare students for life, and with the power standardized tests have today, students are being cheated out of a proper, valuable education and forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure to succeed are being devoted to standardized tests. Standardized testing, as it is being used presently, is a flawed way of testing the skills of today’s students.
“Scores on a standardized test usually do not provide a direct and complete measure of educational achievement. Tests can measure only a portion of the goals of education.” These tests only prove benchmarks and give the government, state, and school systems numbers to see how the school I performing and if the educational needs are being met by the teachers. These tests do not prove the true meaning and goal of education. These tests do not show our performance on class work and them for sure do not show the time teachers spend to make sure that our education goals and works are met. They only show a small portion of all of that which can deceive students into thinking that they are not smart or that they are not good enough.“A teacher can’t really teach all of these things from a textbook. She can model them or talk with students about people who exemplify them. But she has to have enough time left over to do so after getting the kids ready for the standardized test of achievement.” Schools put so much emphasis on standardized test and they make sure that the teachers know that as well so they will spend class time preparing their student for the test so the students will show progress from the previous
“If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that.” This quote by Michelle Obama illustrates the idea that standardized testing should not have such a large influence on education in America. However, a majority of people are under the impression that standardized tests are an accurate method to measure a person's intellectual ability. I believe that standardized tests have developed into a very critical part of the American education system that is hindering the growth of students and teachers instead of providing a tool that can accurately measure knowledge.