The Pros And Cons Of High-Stakes Testing

Testing is a way to measure what students have learned from their teachers. Standardized/High-Stakes testing is a tool used to measure the performance of students and the quality of teachers in public school systems. High-Stakes testing is an inaccurate measuring stick of teaching quality and thus is detrimental to the educational system.

Pressure is being exerted on students to pass, and teachers to enable their students to pass the standardized tests being presented to them. This takes much classroom time that could be spent instructing students on what might be more valuable information, and instead study for the test by what some consider rote memorization (Silva). Experiments have been done seeing how much different teaching approaches were before and after the implementation of standardized testing (Desimone). These experiments demonstrated how vastly the difference between teaching to the test and teaching what the instructor believes is the most valuable knowledge and the best way to present this knowledge. If there is a disconnect between what America’s teachers believe is best to know, and what is on the examinations, then one of the two is flawed, and it is not likely to be what the teachers are teaching.

Students simply do not care about their results on standardized tests. Many students either “Christmas Tree” (pick random answers, named because people sometimes make shapes) or just select one answer and continue with the same answer the entire way down (Tests that count). Student’s only incentive is that they might move on to the next grade, or that they have to pass to graduate. There are a significant number of students who simply drop out of high school. They can either get a GED or find a job that will sustain ...

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...en if say, a parent had died within the past week. That would certainly be jarring enough to grant a pardon to a student. All a university would see, though, is a large F on the transcript.

Teachers will neglect students that need the most help to help those who need a slight shove. This is known as “educational triage” (Booher-Jennings 231). Those on the threshold of passing the state mandated tests are significantly more likely to receive help from instructors than those that are significantly lower than their peers (233). This is to make the district look better as these children are far more likely to pass the test with the extra assistance. This still leaves the ones who were left behind essentially out to dry. If anything, it should be the opposite. The ones who are at the lowest levels should be receiving the most assistance on standardized test preparation.