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Why is standardized testing controversial
Disadvantages of standardized tests
Benefits of standardized testing
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Do you remember what it was like when you were in school? Did you see the flaw in the education system? Our school system today has very many flaws that have been spoken out about. One big topic that has had a lot of controversy is if standardized testing is necessary. Standardized testing does not measure a person's genius.
Three factors contribute to how successful the test taker does on the test: the teacher, the student's native ability, and the home learning. “ The pressure is so great that a growing number of administrators and teachers have engaged in various kinds of cheating to boost scores.”
(FairTest). Standardized testing not only tests the students, but also the teachers' ability to teach the students, which always isn’t fair to the teacher because students cannot be used reliably to judge educators. The test holds teachers and administrators accountable so they are forced to teach to the required information for the standardized tests, also known as “teaching to the test”.
Also, some students have test anxiety which causes them to do poorly. It also doesn’t help that the test
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Stricter standards and increased testing are better preparing students for college, which is definitely an advantage. Also, physicians, lawyers, pilots, and jobs as such, all take standardized test to ensure they have the necessary knowledge of their professions, which I can agree that it is a good idea. Even though I believe standardized test cause much stress to the teachers, others believe it is a guidance for teachers to determine what they should be teaching the students. The test also allows students located in various schools, districts, and even states to be compared and approved by parents because it gives parents a good idea of how their children are doing compared to students across the country and
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 Standardized tests are old and outdated, and the harm they cause to America’s education system by far outweighs the benefits.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.
Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these tests do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a student.
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.
Having a standardized test can keep everyone at an equal level in our education system. For example, a teacher by the name of James Ayoc wrote on an online blog, “ the purpose of testing kids is to figure out what they know and are able to do.” (Aycock) Mr. Aycock uses these standardized tests to assay what his students know and are capable of doing. Another reason Mr. Aycock uses his test is to mark his ability to teach. Mr. James also argues that without the use of standardized testing, he would be unable to compare scores to measure
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.
Standardized tests should not be used to measure student proficiency. These tests are becoming much more challenging and high stakes, resulting in a significant amount of stress and anxiety in students. Standardized testing has become a huge weight on students which is leading to test anxiety. Jasmine Evans writes in her article “Problems With Standardized Testing,” from Education.com about critics of the No Child Left Behind, an act passed in 2001 one under the administration of George W. Bush, who say that there is a lot of pressure on teachers, students, and parents, and school officials as a result of these tests. They say the pressure to...
Many people agree that standardized tests are a reasonable evaluation of a student’s capability. Standardized tests originated in the mid-1800s, in the American education system. W. James Popham defines standardized testing by “any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner” (“Is the Use of…,” 2013). After the No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) came about in the early 2000s, the use of standardized testing became popular. NCLB required yearly testing for specific grades and subjects. If schools did not demonstrate adequate improvement, they were either closed or run by the state. This was done so the state and the tax payers of the schools knew that students were learning and knowing the material. Tax payers especially wanted to make sure their money was going to good use (“Is the Use of…,” 2013). High scores on standardized tests can result in funding for the school, along with bonuses to the facility and staff of the school.
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...
The world is no longer concerned with educating whole human beings, but instead, it is focused on collecting “data.” “Standardized testing robs students and teachers of using their creativity and critical thinking. It holds everyone accountable for meeting this one standard when that is nearly impossible to do. It turns us into robots, dehumanizing both teachers and students.” (Gettysburg College, 1) Standardized test are given to schools by the government. The problem with that is that the government is not in the classroom with students every day. They do not know what the students need. Standardized testing takes away time from student learning experiences where they are not able to think critically or be creative. Standardized tests take place in an artificial learning environment. They are timed, students are not allowed to ask questions, use references, talk to another student, and they cannot even get up and move around. All of these things do not mirror the reality of the real world at all. These tests are reducing the richness of human experience and human learning to a number/ set of numbers. A student may have a deep knowledge of a particular subject, but receive no acknowledgement for it because their test score may have been low. Maybe if students could draw a picture, lead a group discussion, or make a hands-on project, they could show all the knowledge that they really have. They cannot do any of these things in a standardized test. As stated before, testing also creates “winners” and losers.” The “winners” get to move on with their life, but the “losers” often suffer from loss of self-esteem and the damage of “low expectations.” Standardized tests do not value diversity either. There are a wide range of differences in the people who take standardized tests. People have different cultural backgrounds, different levels of proficiency in the English language, different learning and thinking styles, different
Argument Against Standardized Testing President Bush is promoting annual standardized testing for all students in grades three through eight. This bill is currently being considered in Congress, and has garnered much support. As of right now, 15 states test students in those grades, and more than 20 have high school exit exams, which look only at the test score of a student, not at his or her academic achievements. 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 to fairly score the increasing number of tests.
...o by with standardized test being used in schools and other places, U.S. is creating many different ways to raise the standards high for our future education. Although being amung of the most educated countries in the world, the U.S. education level has fallen in the last decade. Standardized test has failed in many ways to be beneficial to public educations. Furthermore, it has proven to create more problems to it. These test do not address what a student is fully capable of and does not represent how smart they are. Schools are getting shut down because of the lack of students
Standardized testing is a deeply flawed system. The American government continues to throw money at a program that has little or no hope of achieving the goals it set at its inception. The important message is that no test is valid for all purposes and “high stakes” decisions should not be made on the basis of a single test score. Test scores provide only a small picture of student achievement or potential (APA 2014).
According to Fyona Rose, “Not only do these tests belittle students' and teachers' hard work, they also leave them with negative feelings toward school and drain their love of learning” (Rose, 2015). This means that standardized testing can ruin the enjoyment of learning for both students and teachers. The reason standardized testing still happens is because it has become a standard for schools each year. But if the standard is bad something should be changed. Many who do not like standardized testing to do not believe that testing should be done away with, but rather be changed to accommodate the growing needs of society as a
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.