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How standardized are standardized tests? In America, we strive to perfect them as well as give our students an education they deserve but at what cost? Standardized tests have been the easiest way to ultimately evaluate a student against every other student in America. However, standardized tests are not as great as they are made out to be. We need to take a step back and look at the faults of standardized tests. Quite simply: Standardized tests are not standardized.
Standardized tests are biased to certain students whether it is race, or even how much money the parent(s) earn. According to Standardized Testing and Its Victims by Alfie Kohn, the tests are a lot easier for children coming from richer communities like Dublin for example, then Cleveland where funding is scarce (Kohn, 2000). It is not just a rich and poor battle it also is a battle with students and regional or language barriers. According to Uyen Zimmerman, my former math instructor from Dublin Coffman, explained English as a second language students interpret asked questions phrased strangely to them differently than a student whose primary language is English. For example, she said there was a question on the ACT that asked a question about folding pizza and an ESL student thought that it meant putting pizza into a folder. Another example is asking students about black ice when students in states such as Hawaii and Louisiana, have never seen or heard of black ice (Zimmerman, 2014). I agree with her completely. All standardized tests are playing with what the creators of the test think is a “standard” and testing all students across America with the exact same questions.
Tests cannot always measure everything that needs to be measured on a course or what a st...
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...rtisan Discussion of Political & Social Issues for Debate (Pros and Cons - Decision Making Politics). Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.balancedpolitics.org/school_testing.htm
Parsons, C. (2010, March 2). Worst U.S. schools targeted. The Columbus Dispatch, sec. A7.
Ruthven, R. (2007, November 7). Is Standardized Testing Hurting Education? Associated Content. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from www.associatedcontent.com/article/438846/is_standardized_testing_hurting_education.html
Smith, M. (2010). Why NOT a National Test for Everyone. Kappan, 1. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from www.pdkintl.org
Twain, M. (n.d.). Mark Twain quotes. Find the famous quotes you need, ThinkExist.com Quotations.. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://thinkexist.com/quotation/loyalty_to_petrified_opinion_never_broke_a_chain/216614.html
Zimmerman, U. (2014, March 9). Personal Interview
“Standardized Testing Has Negatively Impacted Public Schools.” Opposing Viewpoints: Education. Ed. David M. Haugen, Ph.D. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.
Although standardized testing is supposed to reflect what the students have learned, they often times do not to the fullest potential. What some educators may not take into consideration is the limited resources and ways that teachers are able to get the information across. Standardized testing not only has a negative effect on the things listed above but also a negative impact on the learning styles. Many standardized test are created to improve student achievement, but studies show that the testing format has not improved this at all. Standardized tests also do not incorporate all of the different types of learning, and since this is the case not all of the testing results are measured accurately, which can make the results be very incorrect.
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.
Some may say standardized tests are a wonderful thing for schools to test their students but I'm here to tell you why they are bad. The standardized tests have too many problems that need to be changed. There is problems with how many are taken and they need to be fixed. There are too many problems with these tests and the government needs to modify them. So this essay will explain that standardized tests are bad and they need to be fixed, because kids take too many of them, countries who take less are outscoring us, and they are too low quality.
In “Standardized testing undermines teaching,” the author, Diane Ravitch, reviewed a book she authored, The death and life of the great American school system: how testing and choice are undermining education. This review highlights various cons of Standardized testing on the students and educators. She states that standardized testing and the use of incentives to motivate students and educators have failed to meet the set goals. Although the author was at the forefront of advocating for this system, she is now opposed to it and sceptical of the use of incentives to motivate teachers. She also reviews the role of charter schools in perpetuating classism. She states that standard tests and the use of...
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
Standardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some people may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay.
Just because a student is black does not mean they are low skilled or uneducated because as mentioned in the court case black people also lived in white neighborhoods. White people can also come from a low-income family. I think standardized testing is biased because of the achievement gap, which whites have more access to resources while many other races do not have that opportunity. This includes schools with money do better because of the education they are providing to their students. This can also lead to the fact that many students are horrible in test taking, but are really passionate and involved in extracurriculars in
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 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 of fairly scoring the increasing number of tests. Additionally, many students today are not native English speakers, and their capabilities could be grossly underestimated by these types of exams. Although President Bush is a supporter, many influential people are against this bill, including the largest teacher’s union in the United States, which has formed a commission in opposition to the President’s proposal.
Standardized tests are a tremendous part of most schools’ curriculum in the United States today. These tests are assessments of students’ knowledge on either one or more subjects. Standardized tests are a performance evaluation of students, teachers, and schools due to their importance. A standardized test is distinctive from other tests in two ways. One, it has common questions being answered in the same way and two, it is being scored in a consistent style allowing for comparative performance. Through extensive research Oliver’s and Visone’s statements and overall research have several key differences that shape their own separate arguments. Though their thesis and hypothesis have the same underlying idea that there is a problem with` standardized
Fairtest, The National Center for Fair and Open Testing. How Standardized Testing Damages Education. http://fairtest.org/howstandardizedtestingdamageseducationpdf, Submitted on August 28, 2007 11:04am. Internet. 3/24/14.
Sacks, Peter. "The Toll Standardized Tests Take." National Education Association. 2000. Web. 2 July 2015.
Pearson is being promised and has already earned a bulky paycheck to produce tests that are far from perfect; in fact, it can be argued that the negatives of standardized tests outweigh the positives. The point that this is controversial means that we should not spend the excessive amount of money on standardized tests that we currently do. Proponents of standardized testing will likely disagree with the ideas presented. Some may still believe that standardized tests are in fact non-discriminatory because test questions are the same for all students, teaching to the test is a positive because it saves time, and that the tests are not too stressful.
“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.