Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Controversy around standardized testing
Controversy around standardized testing
Standardized testing: harmful to educational health
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Controversy around standardized testing
In Standardized Testing and Its Victims, an article written for Education Week, Alfie Kohn states: Standardized testing has swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole.... Our children are tested to an extent that is unprecedented in our history and unparalleled anywhere else in the world. While previous generations of American students have had to sit through tests, never have the tests been given so frequently, and never have they played such a prominent role in schooling. (1) Kohn accurately describes one of the main flaws in America’s education system: standardized testing. According to the article No Child Left Behind, legislation passed in 2002 requires schools to submit scores to the state every year for evaluation (1). Originally intended to be used for improvement, the scores of these annual assessments are overused and have become the sole representation of a school’s success. It is nearly impossible to create an advanced future by reforming schools based on an unreliable assessment tool. Standardized testing is an inaccurate measurement of a student’s abilities because it ignores other forms of aptitude, discriminates against certain students, and negatively affects education methods. Standardized testing piles an immense amount of pressure onto all parties involved. A report compiled by Joan L. Herman and Shari Golan entitled Effects of Standardized Testing on Teachers and Learning– Another Look explains the main causes of pressure from standardized testing. School districts use the scores to evaluate teachers and hold teachers accountable for the scores. Insufficient performance could endanger the teacher’s job and poten... ... middle of paper ... ...a.edu/products/reports/Tech334.pdf Hicks, Molly G. “The Cons of Standardized Testing.” Standardized Testing. n.p., 2005. Web. 14 April 2012. http://astro.temple.edu/~mhicks/standardizedtestingcon.html “How Standardized Testing Damages Education.” Fairtest. n.p., 20 Aug 2007. Web. 17 April 2012. http://www.fairtest.org/facts/howharm.htm Kohn, Alfie. “Standardized Testing and Its Victims.” Education Week. Editorial Projects in Education, 27 Sep. 2000. Web. 15 April 2012. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2000/09/27/04kohn.h20.html “No Child Left Behind.” Education Week. Editorial Projects in Education, 19 Sep. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. http://www.fairtest.org/facts/howharm.htm Young, Katie. “What’s So Bad About Standardized Testing?” Standardized Testing. Michigan State University, n.d. Web. 17 April 2012. https://www.msu.edu/~youngka7/cons.html
Miltich, Matthew. "Standardized Testing and Assessment Do Not Improve Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 151-54. Print.
Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the sentiments of the authors and their insight into standardized examination. The articles provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that standardized tests are not effective at measuring a teacher’s competency because they do not take into account the school environment and its effect on the students.
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.
Ruthven, R. (2007, November 7). Is Standardized Testing Hurting Education? Associated Content. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from www.associatedcontent.com/article/438846/is_standardized_testing_hurting_education.html
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
Wiliam, Dylan. "Standardized Testing and School Accountability." Educational Psychologist. 45(2). (2010): 107-122. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
"Study Finds Standardized Tests Hurting Students." Chicago Tribune. 16 Oct. 1992. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
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.
"The Standardized Testing Debate: The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly." TakePart. N.p., n.d. 22 Feb 2013. Web. 15 May 2014.
Peterson, B. & Neill, M. (2014). Alternatives to standardized testing. Rethinking Schools. Retrieved from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/restrict.a sp?path=archive/13_03/assess.shtml
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...
Sacks, Peter. "The Toll Standardized Tests Take." National Education Association. 2000. Web. 2 July 2015.
Solley, B. A. (2012). On Standardized Testing: An ACEI Position Paper. Childhood Education, 84(1), 31-37. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2007.10522967
Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.