Standardized Tests Do Not Measure Student Achievement

1772 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Why standardized testing is not effective

Standardized testing has been around since the mid 1800’s. Even though testing has been around for a long time it is still debated whether or not it should precisely “score” students. Students have been subjected to standardized tests frequently through their years in school due to laws which have been passed by Congress. Decisions about the evaluation of schools and students are recurrently made by government authority and are often not in the best interest of teachers, students, or their classroom environments.

What do students achieve from standardized testing? Achievement means something that somebody has succeeded in doing. “Achievement is more than just test scores but also includes class participation, students’ course-taking patterns, and teachers’ professional development patterns”(Harris, Harris, Smith). How can a test score show someone’s satisfaction or what they believe success is? The tests aren’t that advanced in today’s technology. The tests do prepare students for more important tests such as the ACT, SAT, ASVAB, ect…Testing patterns have also been disputed such as drawing a Christmas tree, or limit a letter choice to a certain number of blanks filled in. This does not help the students or the educators in this essence. It does not test the students’ full potential to what they have learned from their educator, it just simply tests the students’ ability to guess quickly under pressure (Walberg). These tests are usually briefly timed. Depending on how the student paces his or herself depends on how well he or she can take the test, because the student still needs to think logically. Under these circumstances students rush to finish the test forcing them to think illogically, resulting in a low score ul...

... middle of paper ...

...8 Nov. 2013.

Popham, W.James. "Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational

Quality." Educational Leadership. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov 2013.

www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar99/vol56/num06/Why-

standardized-tests-don't-measure-educational-quality/

"Standardized Tests." procon.org. N.p., 01 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Nov 2013. .

"Standardized Testing: No Child Left Behind." Lawserver. N.p.. Web. 13 Nov 2013.

Walberg, Herbert J. "Standardized Tests Effectively Measure Student Achievement."

Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At

Issue. Rpt. from "Stop the War Against Standardized Tests." Defining Ideas: A

Hoover Institution Journal (20 May 2011). Opposing Viewpoints In Context.

Web. 8 Nov. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • (Introduction Paper) The Impact of Formative Assessment and Feedback on Student Learning Using the Student Response System

    2141 Words  | 5 Pages

    Current educational policy and practice asserts that increased standardized student testing is the key to improving student learning and is the most appropriate means for holding individual schools and teachers accountable for student learning. Instead, it has become a tool solely for summarizing what students have learned and for ranking students and schools. The problem is standardized tests cannot provide the information about student achievement that teachers and students need day-to-day. Classroom assessment can provide this kind of information.

    Read More

  • The Sol's Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing In Schools

    1900 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Standardized Testing Has a Negative Effect on American Youth

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Standardized Testing Informative Essay

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Students are taking between ten and twenty standardized tests, depending on the grade. A total average of one hundred thirteen different ones by graduation.”(Locker) A few years ago the United States, along with other nations, was given a test to assess the academic strengths and weaknesses of each nation and rank them accordingly. When the results were released and the United States was ranked near the bottom, it was decided to start incorporating more testing through school. Between benchmark, TLI, PARCC, and common core standards, teaching technique was forced to change. Standardized testing has had a negative effect on teachers and students, implementing inadequate grading standards and the common core curriculum, such testing has made

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing

    1739 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Problems With the ACT and SAT

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    These standardized tests are used by schools because they find that it is an easy way to test a student’s ability. However, the issue in doing this is for example, the ACT is all multiple choice. Exams such as these do not give the option to include worded feedback to show that you at least know something about the subject. Multiple choice exams have this problem, they can’t test the information that a person fully knows, it only tests whether they chose the right answer or possibly just guessed it. With only a slew of multiple choice questions it can be easy to get a “good” score or a “bad” score. That’s why these tests are flawed, the results they show don’t prove anything or really show anything for that matter.

    Read More

  • The Case Against Standardized Tests

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Against Standardized Testing Essay

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    Standardized testing is not the best way to measure how well a teacher teaches or how much a student has learned. Schools throughout the United States put their main focus on standardized tests; these examinations put too much pressure on the teachers and students and cause traumatizing events. Standardized testing puts strain on teachers and students causing unhealthy occurrences, Common Core is thrown at teachers with no teaching on how to teach the new way which dampers testing scores for all students, and the American College Test determines whether a child gets into college or not based on what they have learned during high school. Standardized tests are disagreeable; tests should not determine ranking of people.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Standardized testing is a type of test usually serve to determine how well you understand a concept which is often used for placement. These types of test include questions in a form of an essay, short answers, multiple choices, or a combination of these together and are given out as early as in kindergarten. This practice has been used for so long that it has become a part of the American culture. Every year, high school juniors and seniors worldwide take the SAT or the ACT in the hope that they score high enough to get into their dream school. However, there has been a lot of ongoing debates revolving around the idea of the use of standardized testing in college admission and the whether or not they are effective in determining a student’s

    Read More

  • How Standardized Testing Effects the Education

    2676 Words  | 6 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Standardized Testing a Failure in Education

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Standardized Testing Argument Essay

    1662 Words  | 4 Pages

    It’s an age-old question. Do standardized tests really show what students know? Some may think they are a great way to measure education and others may think that one test does not justify a child’s knowledge. What is this test exactly? A standardized test is any test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from a common bank of questions, in the same way. They are used to “judge” or “measure” the knowledge or skills that students learn in school. The problem with these standardized tests is that they measure all students on the same material, leaving out special skills the student may have. It also puts a great deal of stress on a student to know that they will be timed on these questions that

    Read More

  • Standardized Testing is NOT Effective

    2388 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the biggest topics in the educational world is standardized tests. All fifty states have their own standards following the common core curriculum. There are many positives and negatives that go with the standardized tests. A standardized test is any type of “examination that's administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, 1999). These standardized tests are either aptitude tests or achievement tests. Schools use achievement tests to compare students.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Standardized Testing

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.

    Read More

More about Standardized Tests Do Not Measure Student Achievement

Open Document