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Effects of standardized testing on students
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Imagine being in school for 11 years thus far, imagine being 15, imagine trying to prepare for five tests in one day, imagine trying to juggle extracurricular activities, imagine if students weren’t tested as much. Most high school students, whether in academic or honors classes, would agree that the testing in school is excessive and unnecessary. It is understood that from the perspective of the state, the school, and the adults that testing is not only a way to assess how much a student knows but it is also the best way to get a student to learn. However, testing does the exact opposite because students may know the information well, but may be poor test-takers, excessive testing leads to poor performance on tests and detrimental effects …show more content…
For example, Jasmine Evans states “the pressure placed on students to perform well ends up impeding the very thing standardized tests are designed to assess: how much students know,” this further explains my point because the amount of tests students get, gives many anxiety since each test carries an immense amount of pressure. Therefore giving countless quantity of tests to students actually contradicts the learning process and the statistics pulled from those tests would be faulty. The stress and anxiety created by tests isn’t limited to teenagers, as it can affect college students also. Valerie Strauss reports from a professor at Eastern Illinois University, that a mother once told her “her son had burst into tears the night before the big end-of –year exam, saying he was afraid he wouldn’t be promoted to the next grade,” this proves how a student’s mental state and health are altered before an exam, causing a poor performance. On a personal level, I can connect with this women’s son because I have had 4 or 5 tests the same day on multiple occasions. The night before is always a late one, and even when I finally go to bed I’m constantly waking up throughout the night thinking about everything that can go wrong. Even if I study every night for a week leading up to the tests, I’m still stressing out about not studying enough for each
In the United States of America, Standardized testing has become a way of life for students and children, especially in public schools. Many argue that standardized testing does not measure the students as a whole, takes up valuable classroom time, and creates drastic mental health problems in students and teachers. In recent years, a controversy surrounding the idea of standardized testing has been brought forth as something that needs to be changed or adapted to the growing needs of today’s students and this can be examined when exploring the negative effects, the testing has had on society’s future.
In “More Testing, More Learning,” Patrick O’Malley presents his argument in the essay of why taking major exams at the end of a student’s course harms them more than it does the student any good. O’Malley states that, “Although the last*minute anxiety about midterm and final exams is only too familiar to most college students, many professors may not realize how such major, infrequent, high-stakes exams work against the best interests of the student psychologically and cognitively.” (483) With taking midterms and final exams O’Malley claims that it puts too much stress and too much importance one the one or two days of these major tests than in the students entire term. His argument is that with less tests given to the student takes away from
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.
Although there have been legitimate arguments supporting the benefits of standardized testing, such as their ability to successfully measure students’ proficiency, in recent years there have been concerns and disadvantages regarding how their misuse poses a serious threat to the American education system. Despite the belief that standardized tests should be used to measure students’ proficiency, there are more reasons outweighing this statement regarding why they shouldn’t be used for this purpose. Not only is this a particular issue with standardized testing, but the tests are becoming more high stakes and are being used unfairly to determine things such as graduation, or placement in a school, resulting in a significant amount of stress and anxiety in students. Testing corporations are also profiting from the design of these standardized tests, while standardized testing is also forcing teachers to all teach the same thing, leading to a lack of creativity in the students. Aside from these arguments, standardized tests have been found to be becoming flawed and have poor design.
Students in the state of Ohio who are expected to graduate high school in 2018 have become a metaphorical “guinea pig” of sorts in terms of the state’s testing standards. Over the decade they have been in school, these students have been subject of a multitude of tests: the IOWA, COGAT, OAA (formerly known as the OAT), PARC and AIR. All of these examinations were designed to test the effectiveness of the student’s intellectual growth over the course of a given school year, but, realistically speaking, do more harm than good. These examinations occupy between three days and two weeks of crucial learning from the students’ year. Many teachers are fearful of the consequences of poor test scores, and so they find themselves “teaching to the test.” “Teaching to the test” is a practice in which educators focus heavily on material that may appear on the state assessment, rather than reinforcing information that might be more relevant to a student’s actual development.
Today, schools are making it a priority for teachers to follow the strict guidelines of a “one size fits all testing curriculum.” Educators must prepare students for the tests that could make or break their future. This curriculum is focused only on teaching students what they need to know in order to pass the test. “Because the test is based largely on the memorization of facts, teachers will have to teach their students these specific facts instead of teaching for deep comprehension and understanding of material.” (Martin, 309) As a result, students do not learn the true lesson. Although it is highly important that students pass “the test,” this strictly based curriculum is ignoring the important academic skills and fundamentals needed for their future, even beyond the years of high stakes testing; without these needed skills students will be left in the dark once they have graduated from high school. Students often learn on different levels and their educational requirements are not being met with the “one size fits all” approach. Those who create these tests tend not to include those who learn on a different educational level; rather their focus is pointed towards the money rather than on the success of all students. Children need to learn sk...
Since elementary school, students have been sharpening their No. 2 pencils, preparing to fill in the bubbles on their standardized tests. To younger children, these tests aren’t a very big deal. But little do they know that the tests they take in elementary school are practice for the biggest test they will take in their lives. This test is the ACT, or the SAT. These tests are a huge deal. Students’ results on these tests could change their plans for the future, and that’s a lot of pressure. So are these tests really all that they are made out to be? Are they really that important enough to stress about so much? Many people have started to say that standardized tests are hurting American schools, and that they put too much pressure on students.
From the beginning children has to take a set-up whose trademark is “high stakes” testing (s.1 ll.11-12). In primary school pupils have to take an enormous amount of testing that may cause them to develop stress. Cassidy talks about parents encouraging their children to take a school that have a high-test score, which may also damage their motivation and self-esteem (s.1 ll. 14-15). Cassidy includes statement
As child growing up some of the frightful memories include a visit to the dentist; an evil man with scary drill whose solve purpose is to hurt you or the first day in elementary school you finally leave all behind the cozy classrooms and nap times of kindergarten and enter the big leagues. All of these are considered a cakewalk compared to standardize testing. Since the start of elementary school students in the United States are taught to test. In many instances students are held back or placed in remedial classes because of lower grades. But many don’t realize that some students are not great at testing taking and because of the lower grades some educators believe that these students are lower achievers. This leads to lower self-esteem and encourage students to drop out in later years. Also students are forced to memorize information merely as facts without sparking their creativity or enhancing their knowledge.
There is added pressure to schools to get better scores which adds pressure to the educators and the students. The added pressure can cause health problems with the students or the educators. If health problem come from the stress of the tests it could negatively affect the student’s ability to learn (Pros and Cons, 2013). The test itself is a problem as well. The test is supposed to be unbiased based on the grade level but in most cases the test is not. As much as they try...
Preparing for a test can be a very stressful, and annoying activity for a student. The anxiety a student can get right before taking a test can be at an all-time high. The feeling you get walking into the classroom, butterflies in your stomach, heart pounding, and sweaty palms. A student can prepare for a test really well, and know all the information, and when they go take the test, their memory can just all erase at that one moment. I am no stranger to admitting studying for a test and taking tests is stressful.
Students trying to inflate grades on tests because of getting money can be so stressed. Having too much concern about grades and how to do well on the exams can cause nervousness or stress for children. “Common responses to “exam stress”, as Hayes characterizes it, include disturbed sleep patterns, tiredness, worry, irregular eating habits, increased infections, and inability to concentrate.” (“Tests + Stress”). Stress and fear can affect people’s mental health and also reduce their memory. “When you are stressed by something, this stress takes a lot of resources from your brain and interferes with your capacity to encode any new information.” (“Effects of Stress”). If children are damaged their brain, they will have a really tough time in school to struggle with memory loss and get new knowledge. Moreover, paying children for good grades can lead to “conflict” between parents and children. “In Kentucky, where the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship provides up to $500 in state lottery revenues to kids with all A’s, parents “rip teachers” when their kid gets a C, says teacher Chris Spoonamore.” (“Cash for Grades”). This makes a wider gap between the kids. Badly, there are many students cheat on tests for good grades, and most of them are pressured by their parents. Even though cheating can inflate grades, but its results will be even worse if
Even though there are many similarities it is useful to differentiate between test anxiety and anxiety caused by standardized tests. According to 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, &15, test anxiety correlates negatively with performance. If anxiety and frustration with the task is high, then the person is likely to withdraw. By withdrawing, performance is influenced. The more students withdraw, the more anxious and tense they become. This tension can cause students not to invest on their next test. According to 9 and 17, if a student does not invest minimum effort and time preparing for the test, then they will continue to face severe consequences such as failing, dropping out of school, drug and alcohol consumption, as well as mental and physical health problems. Even though these consequences are severe, 14, believes that a small degree of anxiety can actually act as a motivator. If the anxiety is controlled and not over powering, then anxiety can actually minimize the effects and help with performance as long as the test is not stressed as extremely
Testing is one of the big issues in our education system. The idea that the whole school curriculum should be planned around tests is a foolish one, if we want to get a quality education that we can actually learn something valuable from. Having students cram empty facts and memorize test answers is not teaching them it is just encouraging more stress and late nights. On some occasions, tests are a necessary evil to see if the student has actually learned anything from what they have been taught, but to gear the whole class a...
For many years, school systems and parents all over America have been asking- does high school testing measure a student’s knowledge fairly, accurately, and do they benefit the student. The tests do not accurately measure a student’s true academic ability. Furthermore, testing does not always fairly measure a student’s knowledge. High-stakes testing only adds stress to a student’s life. Studies have proven that testing is not beneficial to a student’s educational growth. Testing in high school is affected by different factors; therefore results can be unreliable and not beneficial to the growth of students.