Standardized Testing In The Education System

Improved Essays
Standardized testing in K-12 grades have always been existent in the education system since the mid-1800s, but recently these examinations have gotten considerably more dependent on pass or fail rather than reviewing how effectively educational material is being taught and how effectively the students are learning the material. The spotlight has been placed on these standardized tests and both sides have viewpoints to be considered. But, the biggest point to consider is how the students are benefiting from these assessments. Standardized assessments are a roadblock for students when they are learning educational material. They are put in a cycle of learning information and are tested on it through many in-class assessments given by the educational …show more content…
Standardized assessments have been existent in the education system since the 1800s, but have recently become more significant due to the No Child Left Behind Act signed by President Bush in 2002. (Hout and Elliott) This act made annual standardized testing in all fifty states mandatory. It is believed that this act caused the educational system to become flawed. (Hout and Elliott) It caused students in the United States to fall from 18th place in math in the 2000s to a surprising 31st place in 2009. The results were comparable for science scores, but no change in English scores. (Hout and Elliott) “Failures in the education system have been blamed on rising poverty levels, teacher quality, tenure policies, and increasingly on the pervasive use of standardized tests” (Hout and Elliott). This is where standardized testing takes a toll on the education system and its effects are negatively impacting the educational …show more content…
In order to get a successful education, it’s crucial that proper educational tactics are used in the classroom, such as how the teachers teach, in order for students to learn what they need to know to advance into the workforce and the real world. Seems straightforward enough, students learn educational material and demonstrate their knowledge about the material for a beneficial learning retention. An author of an Educational Leadership article, James Popham, explains how a school’s educational effectiveness is judged unfairly. “These days, if a school 's standardized test scores are high, people think the school 's staff is effective. If a school 's standardized test scores are low, they see the school 's staff as ineffective. In either case, because educational quality is being measured by the wrong yardstick, those evaluations are apt to be in error” (Popham, James). The idea of standardized test scores determining a school’s educational efficiency is alarming. This idea begs the question, Are schools focusing more on making sure students learn educational subjects for the real world or making sure that they are prepared to pass a standardized test? The focus of standardized assessments in the classroom seems to be on preparing the students for these types of immense assessments. “Standardized testing causes many teachers to only ‘teach to the tests’. This practice can hinder a student’s overall learning

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    I stand before you today to discuss the overuse of standardized testing. Children of these upcoming generations have it engrained in their minds that it is imperative that they prepare themselves for a schooling system with multitudes of tests. Children in these schooling systems are required by law to take standardized tests to represent their currents school. While this is seems beneficial to be funding; parents are not able to perceive how the school and teachers are attempting to construct this into the children’s schedules. Teachers are not only piling on the word for the kids preparing for these tests, but are also forcing all of this knowledge that in a short period of time onto these students.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “The average student in America’s big-city public schools takes some 112 mandatory standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and the end of 12th grade — an average of about eight a year, the study says” (Rochon). Standardized testing has been around since the mid 1800’s. It was around 1920 when the SAT was introduced, and the ACT was soon after (Layton). According to The Washington Post, these tests have become more pressure-packed and ubiquitous than ever before. Many parents and teachers believe standardized tests are useless and don’t measure anything important, but there are some people who believe that standardized tests measure how well students can retain information and recall it in an organized fashion and put it in words that others…

    • 1850 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Diane Ravitch said, “Sometimes, the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.” In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act was initiated and mandated annual testing in all 50 states. Since then, the U.S. dropped from 18th in the world in math with a similar decline in science. Standardized testing has been a topic of conversation since the beginning of No Child Left Behind, and it needs to be solved. It affects teachers and students alike.…

    • 1300 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The “No Child Left Behind” act was signed into existence by President George W. Bush in January of 2002. This act brought the waves of standardized testing that primary and secondary education school students of today take. With the goal of providing a better America for the day of tomorrow in regards to our education system, it is not as clear any more when all that is done at school is test preparation. This paper will go into detail on how standardized testing does more harm than what the actual benefits are. From the words of professors themselves, this paper will describe how standardized testing impacts the learning environment of the students in a negative way.…

    • 1281 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 2001, the government passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in an effort reaching 100% proficiency of all groups of students in America by the year 2014. As per the act’s mandate, standardized tests are administered as the mechanism to measure the performance of the students, teachers and the schools. The primary purpose of these tests was to raise teachers’ accountability and improve students’ achievement. This raises an important question: Is standardized testing the greatest medium to accomplish these goals? The fairness and the reliability of the standardized tests is questionable.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    High stakes test scores are not what colleges and universities actually want from their students. This type of testing is extremely stressful, and it is not tailored to fit a person’s individual thought processes. Standardized testing does not take the individual quality of schools, based on the economic status or overall population of an area, into account. Students deserve to be taught knowledge that will help them in their futures, not simply help them pass a test. This is why colleges and universities need to stop putting so much stock in standardized testing, and why this type of testing needs to be a thing of the past.…

    • 1964 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Standardized Testing

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Standardized Testing vs. Pedagogy Standardized testing has become a huge topic of debate in the United States of America. It’s rise over the past 20 plus years has caused much speculation on whether or not it is the best form of assessment for K-12 students. The rise is largely due to the Goals 2000: Educate America Act that passed in 1994 and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This legislation shifted the focus of assessment onto multiple choice testing of common state curriculum, with the hopes that it would raise the standards of Education all over the country.…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Silence fills classrooms throughout America. The only sounds heard are the scribbling of pencils on paper, the rubbing of erasers, the flipping of pages, and the footsteps of the teacher pacing throughout the classroom. Shoulders are hunched, hair is being pulled anxiously between twiddling fingers—behold the reality of standardized testing. Standardized testing is modifying classrooms in the 21st century. Standardized testing in schools should not be as enforced as it currently is because research shows there are no educational benefits that correlate with standardized testing.…

    • 1406 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Because of the importance of standardized tests, curriculum is rearranged to improve the scores students achieve. Klein and her colleagues underwent a voluntary survey of teachers in two school districts that examined the impact standardized tests had on their classroom. Authentic instruction and adapting to the individual need of student’s learning styles was overlooked in order to have in class time to prepare for state and national tests. One teacher responds to the question, how testing influences teaching? “It becomes ingrained in the curriculum, so that all activities can promote testable writing/reading and listening sections of the test (Klein).”…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Standardized Tests Are Hurting Education “According to the 2015 PDK/Gallup Survey of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, 64 percent of Americans (and 67 percent of public school parents) say there is ‘too much emphasis on testing,’” says Tim Walker in the article “Poll: Americans Want Less Standardized Testing and More School Funding.” This statistic shows how the American public is sick of testing and there are many reasons why they do. Standardized testing for high schools students is hurting their education because it puts excessive stress on students, it narrows the learning curriculum, and it does not accurately measure the intelligence of students. Standardized tests are something all American students will take throughout…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    High stakes testing. We all read about standardized tests in the newspapers, watch reporters talk about it on the evening news, and read statistics about them online. When No Child Left Behind’s law was enacted in 2001, little did teachers know what was set ahead for both them and their students in the classroom. Those who supported the bill believed that it would hold schools accountable their students’ success. Teachers were not prepared for what was to come, needing to set aside daily student work for more time to teach students how to take the test.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Within the context of public education, high-stakes standardized achievement tests have become the norm since the early 2000s (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). As a result of the development and implementation of these tests at all grade levels over the past 20 years, teachers and students have been held accountable for high scores, as a means of showing the effectiveness of the teacher and school. Stories such as the Atlanta Public School System cheating scandal where teachers and administrators were encouraged to change student answers to raise the passing rates for schools are evidence of the emphasis school districts, superintendents, and principals have placed on the performance results of these tests (Rich, 2013). All members of…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction Standardized testing is an integral part of school systems across the nation, as many subjects require some sort of assessment to gauge a student’s comprehension of the material. Many times standardized tests are used as tools to determine whether students make it to the next grade level, receive credit, or if they are to be accepted to another program/school, for example college and graduate programs. Even though it is common for students to experience some sort of testing, many people have reexamined the integral purpose that standardized tests have and to see how much weight should be given to test results. The dispute over standardized testing has even made a mark in American legislation. In 2001 former President George…

    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Standardized Testing is Debilitating our Education System Standardized testing is the misdirected efforts to improve education in the United States. Though the intent is good, the vehicle by which politicians and administrators have instituted to raise standards is not only flawed in its conception, but a waste of precious time and money resources.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Standardized Testing

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The current American educational system incorporates a method of evaluation known to every student as the dreaded standardized test. These tests range from state evaluations of grade levels to the ACT and SAT. The purpose of these tests is to fairly evaluate the performance of students and have comparable data. After tests are taken, data is grouped according to states, schools, race, gender, and other categories to compare student’s academic performance. While many claim that standardized testing improves the educational system, there is evidence proving it may not be as effective as previously thought.…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays