Standardized Testing Affecting Students Education

Students have been taking standardized tests since their early elementary school days. The number of tests students must take is overwhelming. On average, those in 3rd through 8th grade, grades that are mandated to have annual testing by federal law, take about 10 standardized tests each school year. Some communities that have a greater number of district mandated tests have students take up to 20 tests a year (Lazarin 19). Education policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act and the current Race to the Top have resulted in a curriculum more focussed on standardized testing and test prep. With students taking standardized tests once a month, is this system effectively measuring students while putting their needs first? Standardized testing …show more content…
Some solutions that have been proposed, like getting educators to refrain from test preparations and giving additional resources to disadvantaged schools, specifically target one branch of the problem. In order to effectively eliminate the issues with standardized testing, a solution must tackle a variety of issues. Implementing the Common Core tests is the most effective solution because the format of the tests have been changed so they don’t reward shallow thinking, but instead assess students’ deeper understanding of material. They also will result in less time spent doing test preparations because the only way to prepare for Common Core tests is through regular classroom learning. Finally, students won’t have to take as many tests because additional district tests to fill in gaps will be unnecessary. While the other solutions proposed have merit and are valuable components of a solution to standardized testing, implementing Common Core tests would be the most appropriate solution to test students’ achievement and eliminate the current problems with standardized