In schools all around the nation, students are taking mandatory standardized tests. To some people, they are the dreaded tests that they never want to take. However, others love to take these standardized tests. Should these tests be mandatory in all high schools? I don 't believe so for many different reasons. Let me fill you in.
Standardized tests are very basic. They usually consist of different school subjects. In each subject the give you a certain amount of questions to answer. Each questions can be answered by filling in small bubble with letters in them. The bubbles are what make the test standard. Each question is the same on every test given out. All the answers are the same on each test. Therefore, it is standard to everyone.
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The second main standardized test is American College Testing or the ACT. This test is used may be used for scholarships or college acceptance. Being accepted to your favorite college is important to a lot of people. What would happen if they wouldn 't take you because you ACT score is to low? There are many reasons they could be low. Some people are not good test takers because of anxiety. The person with high anxiety might be the smartest kid in the class, but he does not do well on test because he or she gets worked up and can 't think correctly when it comes to tests. Other students might not do well on tests because they have to study for their grades. Some students are able to get A’s without putting much effort into it. The next student might have to work very hard to get a B. The ACT would not be completely fair to the kids that have to study. Each test in the ACT consist of information that isn 't revealed until you are taking the test. This makes it impossible for kids that need to study to get good grades, to study for this test because they have no clue what to even look at. Therefore, it is very unlikely that either of those two students will get a score that is high enough to get them accepted to a certain college.
In school around the nation they are starting to give out STAR tests. These tests are offered online. When you take the test you have a time limit for each question. After you answer a question, it will take you to the next one.
Why should one test have such a substantial effect on our future? Unfortunately, this is a task one has to perform to get into to get admission into an American university. The SAT or ACT are required in order to apply to any American university. I find this requirement unfair for many reasons. One requirement in particular being the difference in resources that students have to prepare for the test.
For high schoolers across the country, the test administered by American College Testing (ACT) is intimidating. Compared to past standardized tests in elementary school, middle school, and even high school, the ACT holds major implications. The score students receive on their ACT heavily influences their acceptance to certain colleges and universities in the United States. The test is scored on a 1-36 scale, one being the lowest and thirty-six being the highest score a student can achieve. The importance placed on ACT scores has grown exponentially throughout the past decades, as college admissions are more competitive than ever.
Standardized Testing: Making College Admissions “Fair” Every year , the daunting prospect of undergoing standardized testing brings anxiety to thousands of high school students, and for good reason: a student’s performance on standardized college admission exams - most importantly, the ACT and SAT - is a major determinant in deciding where they will go to college. For decades, such standardized tests have been universally accepted as part of the admissions process: proponents argue, as Syverson (2007) explains, that such tests are the only way of standardizing college admissions when students from different schools have such widely varying profiles. However, in the past several decades a growing anti-testing movement has begun to poke holes
In America, there is quite a lengthy history of standardized testing. It all began in 1838 when the American education system began to form ideas of having tests that would be transformed into formal measures of student academic achievement. They were originally created to hopefully show student improvement and academic knowledge, which is also their most common use up to today. The commonly dreaded standardized test, the ACT, was created in order to help more colleges improve their enrollment numbers, and colleges needed a new standardized test in order to do so. But lately, these forms of standardized testing seem to be causing damage to students.
The tests only ask for knowledge or facts that the student can barely recall and when taking these tests they are taken on a school day and they take 2-3 hours to complete. Standardized testing began in the 1920s to test students ability but was renamed to Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) (Livia). The American College Testing (ACT) and the SAT are both used in the United States for college admission. However Swope and Miner believe that, “Standardized tests will never answer the questions of what our children need to learn to be leaders and informed citizens in a multicultural, ever-changing world” (Cole, Hulley and Quarles 19).
Standardized tests do not work because of inaccuracy, bias, and student misunderstanding. The ACT and SAT tests are used as college entrance exams all over the US. Most schools require you to take one or both of these tests and get a minimum score in order to be accepted to that school. The SAT and ACT have been proven to be fairly accurate at predicting a student’s average performance for their freshman year in college.
Some students do not score good on these tests, they may be nervous and fail or they do not score high enough. These standardized testing systems are no understatement. I used The
Standardized tests are just teaching kids to memorize information. “Statistics items that appear on traditional tests typically…do not test whether or not students understand statistical concepts, are able to integrate statistical knowledge to solve a problem, or are able to communicate effectively using the language of statistics….students who produce a correct "solution" on a test item
In 1942, the SAT was used for all applicants. “In 1948, the SAT was becoming the basic college admission device for millions” (“A Brief History of the SAT”). 80% of schools still require a standardized test score for acceptance (Blaf). However, this percentage is going down and as it does colleges will rely more a grades, which are more precise calculations of
The average American student takes about 112 standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and 12th grade (Strauss). A standardized test is any form of test that requires the student to answer the same selection of common questions in a consistent matter, which makes it possible to compare relative student performance. Standardized tests restrict creativity, waste time, and waste money. We should get rid of standardized tests in our school system. Standardized tests limit a student’s ability to express creativity.
Although this seems like it could be a good argument against getting rid of standardized tests, teachers have no real control if a student does well in a single test. As W. James Popham, PhD, noted, “standardized achievement tests should not be used to determine the effectiveness of a state, a district, a school, or a teacher. There’s almost certain to be a significant mismatch between what’s taught and what’s tested. ”(“Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality.”).
School’s are using standardized testing for the wrong reason. “A standardized test is any examination that’s administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. There are two major kinds of standardized tests: aptitude tests and achievement tests” (Popham, 1999). The most common examples of aptitude tests are the SAT and the
SATS and ACTS have been used for numerous years as a way to gauge a student’s academic success while in college. Students have the choice which test they would prefer to take and most colleges do not prefer one test over the other. There are a few key differences between the SAT and ACT, which may make one test more suitable than the other for those taking the tests. Many studies have proven that the SAT and ACT are not the best judge of future success, and that colleges should focus their applications more on past grades and accomplishments to decide which students should be accepted to their university. SATs and ACTs are not an effective measure of college readiness and future academic success.
A standardized test, according to W. James Popham of ASCD.org, is “any examination that is administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner.” In standardized testing, examinees are instructed to precisely answer a specific set of questions, which are usually multiple-choices. Although standardized testing is believed to be an objective method to grade students, administers should understand that these tests are not only a waste of time, but also a waste of money. Standardized testing is irrelevant to a student’s education because it is an unreliable way to measure a student’s knowledge, causes stress, and hinders a student’s overall learning potential.
Standardized tests are tests designed to evaluate a student’s performance and as well as the teacher’s performance where these tests contain the same set or common questions which are taken by the students annually in the same way (The Johnson Center, n.d.). However, these tests may also vary depending on which of the student’s or school’s ability would they like to evaluate. Standardized tests are of different forms. There are tests intended to evaluate a student’s learning and academic progress¬—if a student was able to learn what he/she was supposed to learn¬—over a period of time.