The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing

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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.
There are pros to standardized examinations as tools for gaining information about student’s literacy strengths and weaknesses that can influence instruction. A pro to standardized examinations is that every student in the same state will take the same tests. This allows a precise comparison between schools. There are negatives to this comparing schools in this manner. These are that some schools or specific educators are obligated to teach to the test. Educators are suffering from an extreme amount of pressure to prove they are effective educators. Regrettably, the primary statistic judged is the success of their student’s performance on these standardized examinations. Some school reprimand there educator if too many students fail thus, scaring educators to teach to the test.
There is added pressure to schools to get better scores which adds pressure to the educators and the students. The added pressure can cause health problems with the students or the educators. If health problem come from the stress of the tests it could negatively affect the student’s ability to learn (Pros and Cons, 2013). The test itself is a problem as well. The test is supposed to be unbiased based on the grade level but in most cases the test is not. As much as they try...

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Works Cited

Davis, D. (2008). Informal Assessments, and how I use them in my classroom. Retrieved from Web 24 July 2012. http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2008/10/08/informal-assessments-and-how-i-use-them-in-my-classroom/.
Pinellas School District, & Florida Center for Instructional Technology. (n.d.). Formative vs. summative assessments. In Classroom assessment. Retrieved from http://fcit.usf.edu/assessment/basic/basica.html
Popham, W. J. (1999, March). Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality. Educational Leadership, 56(6), 8-15.
Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues (2013, November 1). Standardized Tests - ProCon.org. Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://standardizedtests.procon.org/#background.
Olson, L. (2001). Study Questions Reliability Of Single-Year Test-Score Gains. Education Week, 20(37), 1-9.

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