The Failure Of Standardized Testing In Schools

Giving schools cash bonuses for high test scores may seem like a good idea to encourage friendly competition and improve academic achievement, but giving thriving schools these cash bonuses may create more problems than it solves. Due to the numerous disadvantages that laws granting more money to high-succeeding schools create, many policymakers have fiercely opposed allowing such legislation to pass. Their efforts are the correct way to go, and we should work to prevent the restriction of a school’s access to federal funds simply because they failed on a standardized test.
While granting schools money for achieving high might seem like a good idea, it would be ineffective simply because standardized testing is flawed. For example, standardized
Literally, they will not get out of the car” (Thompson). The stress caused by test taking is simply not worth the results; It would be much more worthwhile to spend the time used on tests on constructively teaching students. However, students are not the only one who feel stressed out by tests. Many educators are also stressed out about tests, as the funding for their schools, and, in some cases, their job, depends on how well their students do on standardized tests. This generates a lot of pressure for teachers to do what is known as “Teaching to the Test” to maximize test grades, and detracts from quality learning time ("Do You Feel Pressured to"). Overall, standardized testing harms both the students and the educators in our education system.
Proponents for the allocation of funds by test scores argue that there must be some way to check student’s learning ability, to ensure that they are getting quality education. However, national standardized tests shouldn’t be mandatory, and don’t accurately test a student's education, because they don’t work. On the other hand, Localized systems of education have been proven to work. In Finland, students have
Our nation should move forward, to increase the quality of education for all students by simply learning to trust. We should all trust that our local governments can take care of themselves, and create a system of education that can address the area’s strengths and weaknesses, so that we can create a better system of education.
Works Cited
Strauss, Valerie. "The Myths of Standardized Testing." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.
Contreas, Russel. " Some 11th-Graders Turned Test Into a Game." Some 11th- Graders Turned Test Into a Game. ABQjournal, 2 July 2004. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.
Xueqin, Jiang. "The Test Chinese Schools Still Fail,” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 8, 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2016
Ohanian, Susan. "Collateral Vomitage,”Susan Ohanian speaks out, Mar. 14, 2002 Web. 26 Jan. 2016
Thompson, Rhema. "Too Much Test Stress? " Too Much Test Stress? WJCT News, 23 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.
"Do You Feel Pressured to." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 27 Jan.