Positive Effects Of Standardized Testing

Many classrooms across the United States focus more on prepping for a test rather than offering a rich, engaging, well-rounded instruction. Since standardized testing became a requirement the number of standardized test per year has continuously risen. Up to 113 test are taken by students each year. (Rizga,) With so many exams and with kids stressing many see dropping out of school as the only option. These all negatively impact the learning quality in the United States.

Standardized testing has been in used since the 1800s when it was first introduced to the United States. Then it was mostly just an idea with a few test handed out to a couple schools. Around 1850, tests started to include writing parts and were intended to eliminate oral examinations. This occurred around the same time schools changed their mission statements from “servicing the elite” to “educating the masses.” (Addison 202). Schools would use externally mandated written exams to assess the student’s progress in a specific area. By the end of World War 1 exams began to be written to measure the mental ability to see if they would be ready for
Before, standardized tests classified the student, now standardized tests would classify the school. With more emphasis on testing in schools, the numerical scores of test such as the SAT became more important in education. Next, new technology such as computers and scanners, were invented, making grading all automatic. In 1965 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, this opens testing to the lower grade levels. The 21st century standardized testing is part of every student's schooling. In 2001 No Child Left Behind education reform is introduced by George W. Bush. It’s the expansion of state mandated standardized testing as a means to assessing a school's overall performance. This also requires students to be tested each year of grade school as well as in a high school level (Edwards