Standardized Testing Problems

(1) Standardized Tests Are Ineffective Standardized tests in elementary and secondary schools are ineffective because they aren 't taken seriously, don 't accurately portray one 's intelligence, and they change the way students view themselves. When students take standardized tests, many don 't take them seriously which affects the data collected, creates a lack of school interest, and increase of stress. The purpose of standardized tests is to evaluate students individually and as a whole through academics. When students don 't try their best, their full capabilities and knowledge aren 't reflected by the test scores collected making it hard for educators to gage what needs or doesn 't need improvement. Additionally, the lack of seriousness transitions into students being uninterested in school because they have to take unnecessarily long tests.

Although, some say standardized testing is beneficial to the way students learn, statistics show that this is simply not true, standardized testing adds unnecessary stress on students, suppresses their creativity, and limits the creativity of teachers. To begin, standardized testing puts a lot of unhealthy stress on students and gives them even more problems to worry about. Many students find standardized testing to be extremely stressful and can lead to faulty habits. According to the author Quinn, Mulholland: "One student couldn’t handle the stress of all of these tests and broke down in the middle of one. “She had a complete meltdown,” Neely-Randall told the HPR.

The accountability of the scores is meant to encourage teachers to adopt better and more effective methods of teaching, as well as to urge students to work harder. However the effects are more detrimental. Because of testing, students are more likely to be frustrated and discouraged at having to move so fast to cover all the ground needed. If a student is having a bad day or just is not a good test taker, all anyone can say is “tough luck.” The teachers will only focus on the select subjects tested on, and then only the select aspects they believe will be covered in the testing. Depending on how desperate a teacher is for good test scores, inappropriate preparations can be made before testing, sometimes even to the point of cheating.

Because of this, teachers are leaving their profession. Teachers feel it is unfair they are not being evaluated by all their hard work. Scores are not true indications of student capabilities for reasons such as my personal story of test anxiety. Teachers feel they are only teaching the test, not the full necessary curriculum. All the stress and issues schools and teachers are faced, are left up on the students.

The biggest reason why students cheat in school is because they are pressured by their guardians to do well. Some people think that the reason why students cheat during tests are because they are too lazy to actually do the work and because they think that everyone cheats even celebrities

Then they can identify students that are struggling with the class. “Critics contend that tests can contain culturally biased content that may be unfamiliar to minorities and recent immigrants. Moreover, for students with learning disabilities or who process information differently”(Beaupré). They say that the tests are not fair for students with learning disabilities and recent immigrants ,that do not have much understanding of the culture, because some questions are culturally based, so therefore students do not understand the questions and they do not get them right which affects their performance. Also also schools are cutting off material that is not in the test, forcing teachers to ignore content that is not in the test.

Why the SAT and ACT Tests Should Be Banned Every junior’s worst nightmare, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT ) and American College Testing (ACT). It’s such a stressful test where you have to cram everything you have learned throughout middle and high school into one standardized test to determine your college entrance. Many students do not perform well on standardized test which pertains only of general knowledge which is unfair to many students. The students should not be penalized for poor test taking skills, stress and anxiety which may cause them to score low. College admissions should not be determined mostly by a test that does not measure a student’s potential and work ethic.

Do you struggle with taking tests? Do you wish that you never had a take a test again, well so do I? Standardized testing is a topic that many people would argue. Some people believe that all kids should be required to take these tests and that standardized testing is a good thing, but others argue that it puts too much pressure on kids. I believe that it puts too much stress on kids and it doesn’t show their full potential.

This is unlikely for test or quizzes, but it can happen on homework assignments that are not thoroughly checked and looked over. If a teacher gets caught doing this, it could be very serious. A lot of the time students are to scared to come out and say what teachers are doing wrong, because the teachers will be vexatious with them. This should not be the case. Students should not have to worry about a grade being dropped because a teacher does not like them, They should get the grade the earned and deserve.

They try to improve their score because everybody else has a better one than them so they feel they are not good enough. Should teachers be quitting due to the stress of testing? No, because they don't really go through as much stress as the students do when they are testing and the teachers should also be able to handle these things and not just quit because they think it is too complicated(Occupytheory). Does it affect the way teachers teach their classes? Standardized tests do affect the way teachers teach because they can only teach certain things and not what they think that the students might need.