The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing In Schools

When going to school students are supposed to learn based off a curriculum, but instead they are learning based off a test. These test are meant to help students, but instead they are hurting them. Standardized test requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way. Also they are scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of individual students or groups of students. Each state has a different name for their standardized test, for Virginia they call theirs the Standards Of Learning, SOL’s. These test are neither fair nor objective, puts pressure on the students, and it cuts off time in the school year.
These test give teachers guidance to help them determine what to teach students and when to teach it. By doing this it is less time wasted on instructional time and a simplified way of timeline management. Also it makes sure teachers are doing their job by if more student’s pass the standardized test then the teacher is doing their job and vice versa. If students are failing the test the state steps in and tries to fix the problem in the school. Since the test are administered on the computer it is easy to give out and to score. Standardized tests are objective in nature. Standardized tests are scored by computers or at the very least scored by people who do not directly know the student. They do this to remove bias from the teacher given the student a better grade. Lastly, if the school wants to compare the student’s results with other students inside the school or outside the school they can. Also with the scores being online it is easy to see the student’s growth through their years in public education. Standardized testing helps give parents a good idea of how their children are doing as compared to students across the country and locally. With all these positive things
These test only show the students’ performance the day of the test and not the overall growth of the student over the year. The standardized test does a disservice to both the teacher who worked hard to help their students grow and the student who worked extremely hard over the course of the year and improved tremendously, but failed to pass the test. Many people would argue that teacher and student performance should be evaluated on growth over the year instead of one single test. Many of these students are smart and understand the content, but it does not show on the test. Also many students develop test anxiety which causes stress on the students which leads to negativity directed at school and learning in general. In a picture the teacher says “For a fair selection everybody has to take the same exam: Please climb that tree”. The students he is talking to are a money penguin, elephant, fish, seal, and a dog. Based on these animals only the money will be able to pass the test. This is how the government see all the students, they believe all students are the same when they are actually