The Negative Impact Of Standardized Testing In The United States

High-stakes testing has spread a wave of opposition amid society. Fifteen-year old Kiana Hernandez was a student that decided to take matters into her own hands. She proclaimed, “I’m sorry. I’m not going to take the test today,” to her English teacher after finding out that the test was supposed to be used as part of her teacher’s evaluation (Rizga, 38). Nowadays, students are being constantly bombarded with tests that are more harmful than beneficial. Studies imply that state testing programs, “have resulted in increased student anxiety, increased stress, lowered motivation, increased focus on test preparation, and increased job stress and lowered job satisfaction for teachers” (Segool et al., 490). Standardized testing is not an efficient

The NCLB was passed by Congress in 2001 and later signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002 (“No Child Left Behind Act.” 1). It regulated public education in elementary and secondary schools and sought to “improve student performance, hold schools accountable for student progress, and provide assistance and options for students in failing schools” (“No Child Left Behind Act.” 1). President Barack Obama’s RTT is a series of competitive grants that have been awarded to states willing to embrace the administration's favored policies to improve public schools (Lyndsey, 3). Lyndsey established, “Race to the Top has been controversial among teachers unions, which have argued that federal tax dollars should be spent equally among school districts instead of creating ‘winners and losers.’” (3). Instead of forming a sense of fairness among schools, Race to the Top has placed labels on schools. Furthermore, the Common Core State Standards are a set of uniform expectations for American students in English language arts and mathematics (“Common Core” 1). The standards – assigned to students in kindergarten through 12th grade – are designed to prepare students for college and the workforce (“Common Core” 1). Many claim that these standards allow the federal state and territorial governments to control school systems (“Common Core” 1). If they hadn’t already, most states had planned to implement Common Core State Standards in the 2014-2015 school years. While these acts were supposed to improve the educational system, they failed to deal with the real matters at