standardized tests harmful or helpful?

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One of the biggest, if not the biggest, challenge you face going through school is the standardized tests you must take at the end of the year, every year, starting in third grade. You must past these tests in order to move on to the next grade, or you keep taking them until you pass. A big question many people ask is how are these tests beneficial to real life education? The student, the teachers, the principal and the school districts are all judged based on the average scores on these tests. So, if you put that into perspective, our schools are being judged based on test results when the tests themselves are not ideal education. They are not a part of the ideal education that the kids actually remember and help them succeed in their everyday life. These standardized tests scores are not a good indication of a school’s competency because it does not prove knowledge or understanding. They take light away from real life educational understanding and put the emphasis on passing a silly test.
In school all kids are really forced to worry about is learning the knowledge used to pass the state tests. After the test taking is over the knowledge is forgotten and hardly ever used again. Things such as being prepared for college, jobs or even knowing how to do simple everyday life things are being over looked. Most American teenagers do not know the basics of everyday life. “The United States tests horribly as compared with the rest of the developed world, leading to American children being ill prepared for college and careers in a global economy after high school graduation.” (Emma Connell, Dead Standardized Scores Society) America is one of the top countries in the world, yet our education system is testing behind the rest because ou...

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.... 2012. Student Resources in Context. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

--Letters to the editor
Citation- "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR." Austin American-Statesman [TX] 19 Feb. 2012: E06. Student Resources in Context. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

--Myths about test score comparisons
Citation- Rotberg, Iris C. "Myths about test score comparisons." Science 270.5241 (1995): 1446+. Student Resources in Context. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

Assessment 1990
Citation- Huskey, Linda. "Assessment (1990s)." American Decades: 1990-1999. Ed. Tandy McConnell. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Student Resources in Context. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

--"Dead Standardized Scores Society." UWIRE Text 12 Feb. 2013: 1. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Cordell, Rosanne. "Ready, set, test: a dozen titles for test takers." Library Journal 1 Mar. 2014: 102+. General OneFile. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

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