Preview

standard testing

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
723 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
standard testing
Standardized Testing
One of the most frequently stated criticisms of standardized test is that they do not measure creativity and problem solving ability. Because standardized tests are presented in a multiple choice format, a teacher cannot, for example, see where a child went wrong when he or she failed to solve a math problem correctly, because no work is shown. In addition, critics feel that the questions on standardized tests are too simplistic for children to fully demonstrate reading comprehension, critical thinking, and problem solving , Especially in the case of reading selections, there may not be a single right answer to a question, and learning why children pick the answers that they do might help educators to provide better support.
Critics who feel that standardized tests are too simplistic believe that knowing information by rote does not always mean that information has been digested. For example, a student might be able to answer a question asking when Columbus came to the Americas, but may not understand the cultural and historical implications of the Age of Exploration, and the profound impact that Columbus had on global history. Test takers are not provided with space to process and explore issues on standardized tests because it would make them prohibitively expensive to administer and score. [How does this part support the main point in your paper against standardized test? Please relate this back to the thesis statement so to maintain coherence in your paper, Kevin.]
Many critics are also concerned about bias in test taking. Certain cultural and language biases may be impossible to eradicate entirely from standardized tests, critics believe, meaning that some populations such as girls and minorities may be at a disadvantage when they take standardized tests. While test writing companies do their best to eliminate obvious bias and offensive language, it is a difficult thing to correct for entirely.
Educators are concerned about

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Supporters believe that standardized tests are not narrowing the curriculum, rather they are focusing it on important basic skills all students need to master. Therefore, considering these views, it is understandable as to why standardized testing is seen to be a great indicator of a student’s future academic…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    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.…

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Standardized tests also create unnecessary stress for students. These tests require students to study or cram for many hours and puts them in a demanding social setting where they are forced to answer difficult questions. “Minority test takers experience anxiety, believing that if they do poorly on their test they will confirm the stereotypes about inferior intellectual performance of their minority group. As a result, a self-fulfilling prophecy begins, and the child performs at a level beneath his or her inherent…

    • 1271 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the course of a person’s life, he or she will be subjected to taking standardized tests. Whether in elementary, middle, or high school, these test are known by all students. Many students dread everyday leading up to the day of the test. Standardized tests are not efficient in improving the performance of students.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized tests have many positive outcomes; one is students being able to compare their knowledge to the rest of the country. Standardized test works by everyone around the country taking the exact same test. After the test is completed and graded, students get their results with grade average results compared to their results. An example of this is the ISTEP test. The ISTEP test had three grading levels: Fail, Pass, and Pass +. The grades are self-explanatory. A good grade was a Pass and a great grade would be a Pass +. With the results students can realize what they need to focus on to improve in the future. If one gets a Pass + in math but a lower Pass grade in English then they would know by the results to focus more on English in the future. A bad part about judging one’s education on one test is that the student may have just had a bad testing day, or they…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Diagnostic Writing

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One reason a standardized test should not be required is that some students don’t test well. Some of the students that naturally don’t test well get good grades and are good students. I am one of many that have a difficult time testing. Some students get nervous and have anxiety over testing; they will not be able to show what they actually know. The tests do not show the students true skills.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized Testing

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Standardized testing has a detrimental and counterproductive effect on kids in the traditional education setting. It objectifies kids and ranks them according to an arbitrary scale that is not customized to fit individual students and their disparities in learning styles. There is significant evidence and numerous studies that show standardized testing's negative effects on grade school level students. Other methods should be investigated and pursued instead of proctoring standardized tests to ensure that students are being educated to their full potential. Several methods can be put in place to replace standardized testing including stealth assessment, a sampling test method, or written performance descriptions,…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized tests are not a good representation of a student’s overall ability. Some students are intellectually gifted while other students may be artistically inclined. There are still other students who may do poorly math and science but excel in computer graphics or auto mechanics. Those who oppose my argument feel that tests show what a student knows. This is not all false, but students who show their…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With this emphasis on getting good testing results, many teachers decided to sacrifice teaching critical thinking and advanced problems, and instead substitute the minimal knowledge that is needed on a standardized test. For example, a seventh grade teacher will try to perfect students' ability to use the Pythagorean Theorem in order to obtain the measurement of sides and angles of a right triangle. But on the other hand, real life applications and word problems of how the Pythagorean Theorem can be used to find unknown distances and heights, as well as angles of elevation, will be less of a focus because there is less of a focus on longer and wordy problems on standardized tests. An educator needs the freedom of having time…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized testing in our education system is oftentimes frowned upon. Though some disagree with standardized testing, others see it as an advantage to education in the future. I recently reviewed two articles with opposing opinions on this controversial topic. I noticed that one article worried more about how they felt emotionally, and less focused on the academic advantages or disadvantages. This is an issue in America, I believe when it comes to education we should worry about educational outcomes and not emotional distress due to the criteria in which you are required to abide by.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    SAT, SAT II, ACT, PSAT, AP, STAR, CASHEE, LSAT, MCAT, GMAT…when will this list ever end? Standardized testing has taken an eminent role in deciphering today’s education and unfortunately, there is a test for every occasion whether it is for kindergarten, high school, college, or graduate school admission, or for the state to base a school’s progression. The bottom line is that there is no escaping such demoralizing and discriminatory tests. Standardized tests consist of very basic, simplistic questions similar to those aired on a television game show such as Jeopardy. The answers reveal either an important name or date in history or an insignificant mathematical number; both answers have no value to a student’s education because they do not penetrate the deeper meaning of why. The student will remember the answer only as A, B, C, or D. These tests assess a limited range of English, science, history, and math skills, inaccurately and unfairly measuring a student’s growth because the multiple-choice questions lack the depth and value of an abstract, unique, and diverse education.…

    • 1611 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized tests are defined by W. James Popham, former president of the American Educational Research Association, as "Any test that's administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner." Standardized tests have been part of school systems since the 1800`s.(Standardized) Their use skyrocketed after 2002's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandated annual testing in all 50 states. Standardized testing confuses some students and the amount of testing can stress them out, leaving them to get bad grades on them denying them certain things like scholarships and grants or even the ability to move up a grade level. Standardized testing should not represent the students of America competence.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Imagine our little brothers, sisters, or even our children having hard times learning at school. Now imagine them not being able to proceed to the next level of their education because they scored low on one of their tests. Standardized testing has been around for centuries; since the 1800’s to be exact, and every year since then the average success rate in the US for students K-12 has decreased. It doesn’t take doing research on success rates to know that the world we live in today is not at the educational level it once was. School should be something people look forward to not something they dread. We should eliminate standardized testing in the US because not everyone learns the same way.…

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Standardized testing is good in theory but in reality it is causing many problems. The…

    • 1758 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized testing

    • 1747 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Standardized testing is something you're bound to come across in public schools as soon as first grade. I remember taking test after test as a public school student, and I can't really say I ever got anything out of it. These tests are putting so much pressure on teachers and students a like. A bunch of old men sitting around a table who've never even stepped foot in my school can make a test and say that it evaluates what students have learned as a whole. The problem with standardized testing, its just that, its standardized. Humans strive by working with their peers, giving them the chance to directly feed off of what others are thinking. However this is being pushed aside by the hustle and bustle of teaching a multiple choice test. Standardized testing is being over used and abused. How we are testing, who we are testing, why we are testing. We need to evaluate if its really worth all the money and trouble in the end. According to the teachers on the receiving end these tests seem to be doing more harm than help. Teachers feel they are just teaching a multiple choice test now to assure that their students do well. Testing also takes money, resulting in many districts cutting programs such as arts. Standardized testing is also a money making business, someone out there needs to sell these tests to your school district so they can take a pay check home. Most teachers have a negative attitude about testing because it bring more heartache than help. This needs to be evaluated to assure that we are getting some positive useful information out of our tests.…

    • 1747 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays