The Case Against Standardized Testing

“Oh, another?” You groan as you sit down, and you probably won’t get up for several more hours. Thus begins the fourth day of standardized testing. Students should not have to take standardized testing because it takes up too much class time, it puts stress on teachers and students, and students already take too many tests in each subject.

Today I will talk about how standardized tests should be modified. I will be talking about how standardized tests are taking up too much class time and they need to be shorter. Standardized tests should be shorter they take up too much time and children have no fun at all with just worrying about the test. Standardized tests take all the fun out of a child's day. This essay will persuade the reader the the government needs to modify the test’s because they are taking up too much time, they are sucking the joy out of children because they have to worry about the tests, and that the test just repeats what they already tested on.

Everyone has had to endure the pain at some point in his or her life. The awful, long hours of preparation for one thing: standardized testing. These tests in many states are beginning to get harder in order to align with the new common core standards, and are not only being used to grade students, but teachers as well. Because of the increase in the level of difficulty of the tests, students are beginning to have anxiety. Teachers and parents are not getting a little taste of it as well as they become such a prominent part of the evaluation of students success. People aren’t realizing that standardized testing is not a reliable way of measuring the success and performance of students. Many people think that because it is a computerized

Requiring High School students to pass standardized test before they can get a diploma is a debate that has been going on for quite some time. Should we be required to pass these tests? In my opinion, I don’t honestly think we should. For multiple reasons, but it simply puts too much pressure on a student telling them they have to pass or they don’t get a diploma after all the hard work they did for years. Standardize tests are an unreliable measure of one’s performance. Test scores can’t measure learning or tell someone how smart they are. These types of test are some of the main causes of students cheating off someone they want to believe is smarter than them. Another reason students drop out and/or give up on themselves is because they scored

Imagine a beautiful, sunny day with no clouds, and you’re stuck in a cold, stinky, sweaty, and obnoxiously quiet room taking your third, one hour long, test today. The quiet starts to drive students mad. Students shouldn’t have to take standardized tests. Standardized tests take up the tax payers money. Tests already stress students out and now a bigger one comes with more stress. Students also have barely enough time to finish the tests, well most students anyway.

School isn’t about learning anymore it’s about teaching us to pass a test! To expect the average student to manage their already challenging schedule while simultaneously studying for the ACT or SAT is unrealistic and unfair. American students are spending most of their school hours preparing for standardized tests rather than learning quality stuff. Some American schools test over every subject putting even more pressure students. Test scores are to grade students ' intelligence unrealistically and to pay teachers based off how good the students did.

It has been a part of schooling since the seventh century, and it is used today to find out where students are in their learning. Standardized testing has first started in the U.S. in 1965 enacted by Lyndon Johnson. Recently, it has encountered some controversy, because it has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Standardized testing has the ability to hold back students, fire teachers, shut down schools, increase pay, and change a students life forever. For some standardized testing is something that should be completely removed. For others it is a extremely useful tool, for scoping out the qualified students. Standardized testing has some flaws with the power it holds; however it is a very useful tool to find

Standardized testing is one of the most controversial and highly debated topics in the United States today. These tests are commonly used to measure the students’ academic achievements and act as yardstick for teachers’ effectiveness in academic delivery. A typical student sits for at least “112 compulsory standardized tests between pre-kindergarten classes and 12th grade” (Layton). Proponents of standardized testing believe that the practice provides accurate measurements of student performance and teachers effectiveness. On the other hand, opponents of standardized testing argue that a single test given on a single day can neither be an accurate measure of the students’ academic achievement nor a yardstick

No one likes standardized tests, no one. What if I told that they’re actually unnecessary? You might not believe me, but they don’t affect your grade, it takes too much time, and the President said they were useless.

How would you feel sitting in a room for an eternity filling in millions of tiny bubbles? This is what students feel from third though twelfth grade thanks to Standardized Testing. Standardized tests are bad because they do not demonstrate a student’s level of intelligence or true knowledge base but instead demonstrate their ability to take a test. “Whether you are smart, stupid, lazy, or hardworking is being reduced to how fast and how accurately you can darken the circles on a multiple-choice test.” With this statement Minor accurately explains what it is like to take a standardized test. Further Minor writes, “He takes on the SAT, which neither measures aptitude nor predicts how well one will do

We are in a time where people are not judged for who they are or what they can do, instead they are judged by a test; a test in which irrelevant information is regurgitated. It also seems that these tests supposedly determine one’s success in college or in the future. It is almost impossible to predict human behavior since it’s subject to change, so why are students told based on the results of a test, whether they will or will not succeed in college and/or to what degree?

Colleges now are not only interested in testing scores, they have also added a writing portion in the admission process. This allows the colleges to see your personality through your own words. One way for the colleges to see what a full rounded student is, is to have a baseline score. Supporters also advocate that the tests are a good method of holding teachers accountable for the student’s performance. Many teachers also feel that the amount of data from the test is valuable and can be used to improve their teaching skills. There needs to be a baseline measurement because "We cannot fix what we cannot measure. And abolishing the tests or sabotaging the validity of their results only makes it harder to identify and fix the deep-seated problems

I have never done well on test and especially standardized test. In secondary school all of the test seemed very repetitive and useless. When I took those tests, they did not give me any knowledge or helped me in any way. I feel like all of those test were there and we have to take them, because that is what the school is requiring, but it doesn’t measure my knowledge. The standardized tests were very “dry” you could say and I do know that I did not look forward to them. I do know as well they are there for a reason and students do have to take them, I just wish they pertained to the actual student’s knowledge and interests a bit more.

Student Sudhanshu Pandey, was a happy, normal teenage boy who didn’t look like he would succumb into depression. On march 4, Sudhanshu seemed unusually reluctant to go school. Later than day his parents found him in his room hanging from the ceiling fan. Sudhanshu left a note, explaining how all the pressure and stress in his life from test exams has taken over. Not only has Sudhanshu Pandey been depressed and stressed from testing, its all over the world. Schools are giving out too many standardized tests. It’s not only robbing them of their time, but it’s also causing stress and anxiety and going into far levels. Students need to be focusing on their learning academics and preparing for their future. Taking unuseful tests are not only pointless, but they put too many kids/teens into anxiety and even depression.

(2010) states that while there are some positive attributes to standardised testing such as improving test scores, encouraging higher-level thinking and providing feedback to students, there are also a number of negative effects. These negative effects involve narrowing of the curriculum so that the focus is mainly on test content causing teachers assessments to become more summative rather than formative, incresed stress and anxiety on students and incresed dropout rates amoung lower achieving students.