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Standardized Testing Informative Essay

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Standardized tests have been an integral component of the American educational system since the mid-1800s. The use of standardized tests went through the roof with the creation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002, which made it mandatory for all 50 states to hold annual standardized tests. Standardized tests are defined by W. James Popham, former president of the American Educational Research Association, as “any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner. These tests often consist of multiple choice questions which are able to be quickly scored by an automated test scoring machine. I do not believe that standardized tests are improving education in America because they are detrimental …show more content…

A majority of students believe that standardized tests are fair. In a study conducted by Public Agenda in 2006 of 1,342 public school grades 6-12, it was found that 71% of students believe that the number of standardized tests they are required to take is “about right” and that 79% of students believe that the test questions are fair. The study was conducted again in 2002 and found that “virtually all students say they take the tests seriously and more than half (56 percent) say they take them very seriously." Most administrators and teachers also approve of standardized testing and believe that it does not compromise their teaching abilities. A study conducted in 2009 by the Scholastic/Gates Foundation found that 81% of US public school teachers think that the state-mandated standardized tests were “somewhat important” when it comes to measuring student academic achievement, and 27% think that they were either “very important” or “somewhat essential”. Standardized tests are also utilized by physicians, lawyers, and pilots in order to measure their knowledge of their profession; the use of these tests is widespread among students, educators, and professional. If the results of these tests were unreliable, then they wouldn’t be used in such a wide array of professions and educational

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