Cons Of Standardized Testing Essay

Standardized testing is losing its efficiency, and could be hurting the education and learning of all our students, from young to old. Standardized tests are state administered annual tests that all students must complete. Each state may have a different testing program, and each one is very different, but they all have the same basic gist. They were made to measure student’s knowledge, and measure the school’s achievement, but are they worth the hassle and time they use?
The opinion of the usefulness of standardized tests is spilt in half, although even supporters of the tests can agree that there is a lot of issues with it. It can create unnecessary stress on both students and teachers, and causes most teachers to only teach information that will be on the tests, which can limit education. Schools are judged by the scores their students make on the tests, which shouldn’t be as the tests do not measure the education
They provide a general layout of material that is beneficial to be covered in teaching, but that layout doesn’t need to be strictly followed, and can branch out for further education. It can help students set and achieve educational goals they have set for themselves. It can help the students recognize areas they need to strive to perform better in, or areas they excel at. While not perfect, standardized tests do have positive advantages.
Standardized testing has both advantages and disadvantages, as do most things in life. The negative outweighs the positive in this scenario, as there are more issues with standardized testing then positive areas. If these stress-inducing problems were taken into consideration, and state mandated testing revised, the cons and pros might be able to match each other. This would result in students and teachers with less stress, and improved feelings towards the dreaded tests. If revised, standardized tests could be accepted by