Standardized Testing: Is There Too Much at Stake?

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Recommended: Controversy of standardized testing

In today’s day and age, the public school system has made it more and more rigorous to pass and graduate. One of the steps that students are now required to take is that they are now required to take a standardized based assessment. In many educational systems, if students do not pass this test they would not be allowed to pass to the next grade or even graduate in some cases. Not only does this test have severe negative consequences for them if they do not pass, but they also have negative consequences toward their instructors and their school. If students do not show growth or show proficiency this may affect their teachers’ pay or even their jobs. Schools may be unable to receive proper funding if their test scores do not show growth, which could cause a school to become less functional than they already are. There are many problems with the way that standardized testing is implemented in our public school system as stated above.
A total of more than 525 public schools in the state of Texas have signed a national resolution that calls for an end to the overemphasis to standardized testing. (Parents for Public Schools Inc.) “The resolution states that the over-emphasis on standardized testing has ‘caused considerable collateral damage in too many schools, including narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, reducing love of learning, pushing students out of school, driving excellent teachers out of the profession and undermining school climate.’” (Parents for Public Schools Inc.) This resolution also called for a reform that creates a new system based on multiple ways of assessing student growth and knowledge. Last month, President Obama granted relief from the requirements from the “No Child Left Behind” Act to st...

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...gress should be used. This is proved by the school systems in New York City; Campbell’s law also proves that the results from high stake assessments will be skewed; the cause of this is most likely cheating.

Works Cited

Amrein, Audrey L and David C Berliner. "An Analysis of Some Unintendedand Negative Consequences of High-Stakes Testing." December 2002. National Education Policy Center. 24 March 2014. .
Great Schools Partnership. English-Language Learner. 29 August 2013. 24 March 2014. .
Miller, Johanna E. High Stakes Testing. 2012. 24 March 2014. .
Parents for Public Schools Inc. Too Much Emphasis on Testing? 2014. 24 March 2014. .

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