Standardized Testing Arguments

As Michelle Obama once declared, “If my future was determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.” The performance of a school’s organization is based off of the results of standardized tests taken by students (Walberg). Standardized tests are a guide to the board of education on how a school can improve its curriculum in a way that is most beneficial to students (Walberg). “The scores of standardized tests are not the same as student achievement” (Harris). In spite of the people who believe that standardized tests are a key factor to determine a student’s academic abilities, standardized tests distract students from their current studies, they are only designed for one way of learning and comprehending material, and they are biased to students.

There are so many results for a single test that does not even evaluate a student’s knowledge accurately. A single bad day could be disastrous to a student’s career, and a day of lucky guessing can float them by another year. Teachers are “graded” on their class’s results, so if a teacher’s class does poorly, that teacher may have an intervention coming. [PP1] Some people have even advocated for teachers’ pay and job security to be based upon the results of testing(“High-Stakes Test Definition”). Schools are given “grades” as well, and funding is based on them.

A local teacher said “some principles like standardized test because they can make they’re school look good which equals more money. Most teachers don’t like standardized tests because it makes them have to teach to the test instead of teaching the curriculum. It also puts a lot of pressure on the teachers because in some states they’re tests scores decide on how much they get paid, if they get to say in that grade level, or if they get moved to a different grade level because their scores were better for that grade level” (source 1). A teacher that teaches at a local school said “the state testing I had used for much of my career was severely flawed (STAR) I did

Teachers who are accustomed to using little math language to teach and talk about math concepts will now have to adapt. Avoiding academic terms to explain concepts and processes will be incredibly harmful to students in the long

Brent Staples is speaking about colleges around the country and how the standards that they hold the students to are changing. He believes that students these days are not earning grades as much as they are demanding them. Brent in his article is comparing how students from the past would take the grade that they were given because in that time the teacher was right in their decisions but now, because students pay so much for school they think they should automatically get a good grade. In his article he states, “Twenty years ago, students grumbled, then lived with the grades they were given. Today, colleges of every stature permit them to appeal low grades through deans or permanent boards of inquiry.”(Staples

Considering these pros into action, there are cons to it. Higher salary based on standardized tests will have negative effects. More manipulation of test results will occur within this. If school board officials are seeing that students are achieving higher test scores, they will take action and give teachers the bonuses, but what the school board does not know is that the teachers are the ones manipulating the tests for their own benefits in this case for money. “Cheating teachers are on the rise as figures show the number illicitly helping children pass GCSE and A-level exams has trebled in the past two years” (Turner).

After students have taken the standardized tests, their scores are then averaged up and published and the different schools are then ranked from highest to lowest score. Because of this, teachers and professors end up teaching to the test due to the terror of losing their jobs. According to Scholastic.com, “it is unfair for schools to be compared because the test-takers are different sets of people, which cause a biased manipulation in statistics.” Educators neglect to teach students the appropriate skills that go beyond the classroom and tests, since they are now too caught up in preparing their students for these standardized tests. Educators are now using their time explaining the topics that will be a part of the tests, which leads them to forget to teach the students life lessons that go beyond the classroom walls. Another reason why standardized tests pressures mentors, is because the test results are used to examine their performance as an educator, which should not be the

The older students in high school don 't care for the test because it doesn 't affect their grades. This test is stressful but worth the stress. Students use the duh and foul method to answer questions. It 's official that this test is preparing kids for college. Standardized test is important because is shows

Less study time also means students test scores will drop. When students need extra help on a normal 5 day school week it is provided for them. But when they only go to school for four days the extra help isn’t going to be provided due to the slim amount of time spent with the students a week. Students in Idaho felt like they were running out of time to study for tests and finals due to the four day school week. On the other hand, a four day school week would reduce financial cost for the school.

Standardized testing leads teachers to begin teaching to the test because of the fear of economic loss within the school system. Professors Herbert and Hauser stated that, “Standardized test scores promote rote memorization at the expense of critical thinking skills, pressuring teachers to spend most of their instructional time teaching testing material,” (Heubert & Hauser, 1999). Teaching to the test narrows the curriculum from a variety of complex topics to specifying material to what will be on a test. This narrowing of the curriculum can eliminate important topics that encourage critical thinking and can eliminate valuable lessons to students. Over time researchers have found a predictable pattern playing itself out in various states in the United States .When tests are first administered, the scores are distressingly low.