Standardized Testing In Today's Schools

Standardized tests are the universal method for colleges and universities to decide the worth of current and future students. Standardized testing is simply every student taking one test, consisting of the same questions, which will be graded in a regulated way. Colleges and universities rely too heavily on standardized testing. Standardized test scores are the opposite of what colleges actually ask for from students. Colleges always request driven hard working students, rather than students that can simply get a passing grade.
This type of uniform testing also causes psychological fears and anxieties that can make test taking even more difficult. A standardized test is not tailored to fit the way every individual thinks and learns. …show more content…
Teachers hate having to teach solely so that students can get a passing grade on a high stakes test. The article Managing Standardized Testing in Today’s Schools, explains that a survey was conducted to get the opinions of many teachers, of varying grade levels, regarding where they stand when it comes to standardized testing. The article reports that the majority of teachers believe that standardized testing has a huge effect on what they teach and how they teach it (Klein, Ana Maria, Andrea A. Zevenbergen, and Nicole Brown). Many teachers teach the testing material all year round, and preparing for testing often makes up nearly the entire curriculum. Colleges ask for driven, hard working, interested, inquisitive students. However, requiring standardized test scores does not give students time or energy to focus on learning those valuable life …show more content…
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. If colleges truly want students that are smart and capable, they will stop using and relying on standardized test scores, and will find a new, more efficient way to judge a student’s worth and