More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of standardized tests
Standardized testing impact on schools
Standardized testing is important to measure student achievement
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The importance of standardized tests
It is easy to see how colleges find standardized tests necessary for acceptance into their institutions. The SAT and ACT do in fact serve as a “metric for learning” (Nixon 2). Standardized tests provide benchmarks of learning for educators and parents, since every student takes the same exact test. The problem arises however, when we consider that every student is not exactly the same. As quoted by Albert Einstein, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” College, unlike high school, is unique because not everyone is required to take the same exact classes to graduate. Thus, the claim of opposers rests solely upon the questionable assumption that everyone
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.
... a tedious process, but the change can have immense, positive effects for the future college student. The ACT and SAT that supposedly measure a student's learning potential through multiple-choice questions should be replaced by a test of a student's desire to learn determined through the analysis of essays, recommendation letters, and school or community involvement. This change can result in a more academically motivated freshman class. Standardized testing in its current form does not accurately measure most students' learning potential. It does not allow for diversity and creates a huge hurdle for many potential academic achievers. An adjustment to a diverse, open testing format of the ACT or SAT and a stress on the student's other academic accomplishments can accurately measure the student's desire to learn, therefore measuring the student's learning potential.
"Former Bates College Dean of Admissions, William Hiss, said that intelligence is so complex, varied, and multifaceted that “no standardized testing system can be expected to capture it”(Westlund). Throughout the years standardized testing has changed its purpose and not for the better. In the late 1930s, the goal of taking standardized test was to award scholarships to "diamond in the rough" students (Westlund). Currently, the whole idea of taking the SAT or ACT is getting admitted into a college. Standardized test should not be a deciding factor of being admitted into a college.
Standardized tests have historically been used as measures of how students are compared with one another or how much of a particular curriculum they have learned throughout the semester or year. Consequently, standardized tests are being used to make major decisions about students, such as grade promotion or high school graduation, and higher education evaluation. Various numbers of students across America have had to repeat classes because of the way standardized tests are used to pass or fail students. Although the tests require students to retain information until the end of the semester, I believe it is wrong to allow just a single test to decide whether an entire semester’s work will be rewarded with the credits that may have been well-earned. Some standardized testing such as the SAT, are not fair to students who may come from a poor educational background and do not retain information as their fellow peers. Students are at a disadvantage if they have test taking anxiety, which is a condition that many students suffer from “a feeling someone might have in a situation where performance really counts or when the pressure's on to do well” (Test Anxiety). Standardized tests give a false pretense of objectivity and consequently of equal opportunity. However, "the only goal of standardized tests is the scoring, which is done by machine" (Facts on Standardized Tests and Assessment Alternatives). It is made clear that the purpose of testing is to provide information to be used in conjunction with, not in pl...
Do you like being bombarded with the stress of having to take so many tests? In 1845 the US brought standardized testing in the subjects spelling, geography, and math into public schools (Standardized Testing 1). Standardized tests were made to swiftly assess students abilities (Standardized Testing 1). The No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 mandated testing in all 50 states. In the article, “Standardized Tests,” it states that “US students slipped from 18th in the world in math in 2000 to 31st place in 2009, with a similar decline in science and no change in reading” (Use of Standardized Tests 5). Blame of the decline in rates are on poverty levels, teacher quality, tenure policies, and increasingly on the pervasive use
Today students go to school from K-12 earning their education and take a standardized test during their junior or senior years (sometimes sophomore year). The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and other standardized test are used by colleges across the world to determine if a student is ready for college. As a result, there are some individuals that disagree with the use of standardized testi...
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.
These tests have been used by high schools and colleges to determine if a student has the knowledge needed to succeed in college. It is felt by a large number of students, teachers, and others in the education field, that these tests are not a true representation of what the students know, but rather how well the students can take a test. Standardized tests do not show how well a student does in class work, homework, self-study, or their response to learning.
As in an incoming freshman in high school, not only was I introduced to standardized test but my fellow classmates as well. Standardized test is any form of a test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, which is also scored in a standard or consistent manner. These particular test are given at the end of each school year to the particular students who are enrolled in the the classes of the given test. The standardized test include Algebra I, Biology I, English, and History.We also found out that in order for anyone to graduate those particular test had to passed if not you were not eligible to graduate. However, out of all four test History was the most difficult for students to pass as well as myself. This test in particular was known for being the hardest test to pass. Since the test was so hard to pass we were introduced to that one class specifically History our ninth grade year so that we could take the test for the first time at the end of our freshman year. Not all students had problems passing you had some pass all four on their first try, but then you had the other set of students who could not pass which hindered many from graduating. In the end I do not believe that
Standardized tests are very common throughout the United States. They are used to measure students’ academic performances in school. These tests vary from state to state in all grade levels. However, these tests are believed to be biased towards those students who come from higher-class neighborhoods, simply because they have more educational resources. “The absence of standards virtually guarantees stratified resources and access to knowledge, based upon income, color of skin, and the community and neighborhood in which one lives” (French, 2003). The resources in the suburban areas differ from those in the urban areas, because of the gap within the difference of incomes. Families living in suburban neighborhoods have a bigger income, which enables them to have more resources than those living in urban neighborhoods. Most educational resources come from taxes, which plays a big part in the gap between urban and suburban neighborhoods.
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.
Standardized tests, such as the SAT and the SOL, have been implemented for many years now for individuals in grade school to take. The SOL’s, or Standards of Learning tests, are Virginia’s version of standardized tests that students are required to take in order to pass a class, evaluating their knowledge on a specific subject. SOL’s are mandatory for students to take as soon as they reach third grade. Additionally, the SAT is a test taken in the final years of high school that colleges look at when comparing students for post-secondary school. People concerned with student’s education can come to the common consensus that education is important and there should be some way to compare a student’s achievements to one another. However, the process
Why is standardized testing part of the college admission process? Some of us might still remember taking the SAT or ACT when we were applying for college; however few of us question why we have to take such a test. Millions of dollars are spent on prep materials all so we can achieve a decent score and hope colleges will be impressed. The College Board claims a high SAT or ACT score correlates to college success which is defined as a good GPA throughout college. However if you stop and ask yourself what the SAT or ACT has to do with college success, most of us will arrive at the conclusion that these tests have almost have nothing to do with college success. Some of the questions are simply on these tests are simply ridiculous and will never
It is often argued that standardized tests such as the SAT and the ACT prepares students for college. Whiles it is impossible to argue they don’t, are we conceding that years of assignments, home works, experiments and research work is not worth more than a day of a test? Have we finally concluded that all those time we spent at high school are not enough to grasp the needed skills to stay in college? I certainly do not think so. In my country, there are three systems of education you can pursue. The American system, the United Kingdom system and the Western-Africa system. From a personal experience, I remember a friend who tested out of the latter system as one of the best in the country but wouldn’t have made most highly selective colleges in the USA with his SAT scores. In a similar situation, I didn’t excel in the West Africa system but made the SAT with impressive scores even though I didn’t pass through the American System. Where do the disparities of these tests come from? It is because certainly different tests measure different abilities. The SAT is basically Math and English but th...
“Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent students do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.” This quote by Diane Ravitch really sums up what is wrong with tests like the ACT, SAT, and other standardized test. Many students do not have the spare time between other schoolwork and activities. For students who have to take these standardized tests, it takes away time to study from school, many can not work well around the numerous activities that they have going on, and it causes stress that you will not be good enough for a college education.