Dangers Of Standardized Testing

Public education is something nearly every child in the United States had to go through to better prepare them for life after secondary school. If a child is in elementary school at this time then he or she will face a long road of education that will include standardized tests. When President George W. Bush was in office, he ratified the No Child Left Behind Act to help boost test scores in the United States. Because of the No Child Left Behind Act, the United States increased standardized testing to measure how well students are learning the material (“No Child Left Behind”). Based on the scores that students get, the school and teachers will either be rewarded or penalized (“No Child Left Behind”). Standardized testing doing more harm than …show more content…
John Oliver revealed during his show, Last Week with John Oliver, that some of the answers to test questions were not understandable or had errors. Oliver also stated that his staff attempted to take part of a test and very few people could actually get the answers to the questions. All the while, if a student or teacher does spot an error or wants someone to look at a question they cannot talk about the testing material. Most students and teachers sign a contract before the test that states, “… I will not use or discuss the content of secure test material…” (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver). After the test, the grading system gets even more complicated. Oliver interviewed former graders of standardized tests and one of the subjects of the interview stated that a particular score was given out so often in the last year and expected the scores to be similar, and if not then the testing companies will tell you that there are too many of a certain score and the scorer needs “to learn to see more papers as a three…” (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver). This goes to show that the scores may not be what they actually should …show more content…
The point of standardized testing in the beginning was to increase student scores, but when one looks at the improvement of Nevada, he or she could see that little has changed and the student achievement has not increased. In fact, since the No Child Left Behind Act was ratified the United States has gotten a lower ranking on the Programme for International Student Assesment (Anderson). At the same time, students may not do as well on the standardized tests as they do in class; a student may have straight A’s, but when it comes to testing he or she may do poorly. All the while, the tests are supposed to be fair for all students, but in reality it is only fair to a few. The standardized tests were designed for students who speak English well and do not have any disabilities (Ressager 1). Yet, the government is expecting children with disabilities and/or whose first language is not English to take the same test as children without disabilities and whose first language is English (Ressager 1). This gives a disadvantage to children with disabilities and/or whose first language is not English since the test they take is not accommodated to their