Dangers Of Standardized Testing

Dangers of Using Standardized Testing as the Only Measure of Student Achievement
The measurement of student achievement is complex; one must ask themselves, what is student achievement and how is it measured? Standardized testing is often used as a measurement of student achievement. This form of testing serves an important role in education. While using standardized testing is not purposed to be a negative form of assessment its misuse as the only measurement of student achievement can be detrimental to students.
When specifically looking at a high-stakes test, like the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness or STAAR, and the role it plays as the promotion measurement of student achievement for fifth and eight graders and end
The No Child Left Behind Act requires accountability and standardized testing is a way to ensure all students receive quality instruction. The STAAR is able the provide a Progress Measure for students. This allows test takers to measure the amount of growth or improvement made year to year. According the New Assessment Model provided by the Texas Education Agency, the test sets out to have a greater number of items that have a higher cognitive complexity level. These items are developed to match the cognitive complexity level evident in the TEKS. Additionally, open-ended items will increase to allow students to more independently produce answers. The state sets out to make appropriate changes to best serve the students and guide the state and districts in identifying gaps in learning and academic progress.
STAAR and its Victims
There are dangers when using standardized tests as the only form of measuring student achievement. The state is essentially doing this when basing promotion for fifth and eighth graders as well as high school students off of one score on one test. Brookhart and Nitko state a misuse of standardized testing is “retaining as student in a grade solely on the results from a standardized test. Although standardized achievement test scores may have some bearing on this type of decision, their importance should have little weight in the final decision” (p. 370).
The Students as a
According to the Fall 2015 STAAR Summary Reports 202,614 high school students did not pass the general end-of-course exams. The April 2016 Summary Reports of eighth graders showed 62,294 did not pass the reading and 78,035 did not pass mathematics test. The April 2016 Summary Reports of fifth graders showed 89,244 did not pass the reading and 78,082 did not pass the mathematics test. This is a large population of students that may have become frustrated having to retest or denied