Standardized tests are the culmination of every school year. Everything taught during the entire year is supposed to be represented in the students’ scores. If they perform poorly, then apparently the school taught poorly. If they perform well, then the school apparently taught well. The goal of these tests are to improve instruction and performance in schools and students. Standardized testing does not improve instruction and performance due to the fact that these tests do not value diversity, preparing for the tests take up instructional time, the tests create stress, and the tests provide unreliable data. Standardized tests are exactly as they say they are – standardized. Each test given to a group of students is the same, regardless
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The stakes are raised on tests taken at the end of the year, when the scores reflect what the student has learned throughout the school year. This stress causes children to forget the information that they would otherwise know. Not being able to correctly answer the test questions would mean that the test-taker would score poorly, which could harm them mentally and emotionally. Because stress lowers test scores, the data represented by the test is inaccurate. On the other hand, some students do not care about their scores. Their scores are also inaccurate, because they do not show their full potential. Some students, when they do not know an answer, decide to guess. There is a chance that a child could guess correctly, which gives an inaccurate score. One should not be able to use inaccurate data to judge the intelligence of an individual. Standardized tests do more harm to students than good. They are unfair to students of different backgrounds. They waste instructional time that could have been put to good use. These tests cause stress to students that could have been avoided. The information they provide is useless on account that students do not answer the questions accurately. Standardized tests are a waste of time to everyone
The stakes are raised on tests taken at the end of the year, when the scores reflect what the student has learned throughout the school year. This stress causes children to forget the information that they would otherwise know. Not being able to correctly answer the test questions would mean that the test-taker would score poorly, which could harm them mentally and emotionally. Because stress lowers test scores, the data represented by the test is inaccurate. On the other hand, some students do not care about their scores. Their scores are also inaccurate, because they do not show their full potential. Some students, when they do not know an answer, decide to guess. There is a chance that a child could guess correctly, which gives an inaccurate score. One should not be able to use inaccurate data to judge the intelligence of an individual. Standardized tests do more harm to students than good. They are unfair to students of different backgrounds. They waste instructional time that could have been put to good use. These tests cause stress to students that could have been avoided. The information they provide is useless on account that students do not answer the questions accurately. Standardized tests are a waste of time to everyone