Standardized examinations, ranging from Terra Novas and New York Regents to the more intimidating SATs and GREs, are the bane of many school-age students’ existence. Instead, standardized tests, first used in the 1800s, have become the norm. As a result, many elementary, middle, and high school students are accepted or rejected from institutions and are eligible for scholarships, among other things.
After the No Child Left Behind Act mandated that all 50 states use standardized examinations, their use skyrocketed in 2002 for children in grades K-12.
In recent years, standardized testing has sparked a national controversy. Many parents are understandably anxious about their children being graded based on exams that, in some circumstances, don’t seem to reliably connect with actual learning or good college and career results.
On the other hand, are these tests useful to improve education, or are they defective tools?
- The Pros of Standardized Testing
- Equal opportunity
Standardized testing ensures that everyone in America receives an adequate education. The Every Student Succeeds Act, which went into effect in 2016, compels states to hold elementary, middle, and high schools accountable for their student’s progress by using competence on standardized exams. The goal was to bridge the gap between minority and low-income pupils and students from higher-income homes. Standardized examinations allow every student to learn the same curriculum as their peers in other schools, but they also incentivize institutions to ensure that every student succeeds on these exams.
“We know that if we don’t have measures to monitor students’ progress and don’t hold states responsible, the victims will invariably be kids from impoverished areas. Children of color, and students with disabilities,” Washington State Senator Patty Murray once remarked about education regulations.
- Objective measure
It’s critical to have an objective criterion for evaluating applicants for university admissions, especially when it comes to scholarship applications and academic placement. Personal interviews and demographic data inherently subject evaluations to prejudice and human mistake, so standardized tests are advantageous in this situation. However, colleges and universities require unbiased screening tools by removing bias from the equation, these exams aid in placing children in the best learning environment. The SATs aren’t flawless, but they serve a useful purpose.
Because the SATs (and other standardized tests) are mostly made up of multiple-choice questions and are scored by machines, they provide objective, statistically valid standards for comparing student achievement. In addition, rather than having their entire academic career scrutinized, the SATs highlight students’ abilities in a restricted concentration. Our CDR report writers in Australia consider the core aim of CDR and guide you through each part in a systematic structure.
The Cons of Standardized Testing
- Creativity Crash
In the United States, a long-standing practice known as “teaching to the test” has developed, limiting teachers’ focus to just teaching subjects that would help pupils score well on standardized examinations. However, studies have shown that pupils who focus on learning rather than exam results are more successful. According to the National Council of Teachers of English, subjects like art, social studies, foreign languages, and music have been marginalized since they are rarely examined.
In this line, examinations like the SATs, which exclusively test for math and reading, ignore students’ talents in other areas of learning and only serve to constrict the high school curriculum. Instead of analyzing pupils’ test-taking abilities, these examinations should be used to assess their general intelligence.
- Not worth the cost
Standardized examinations are too expensive, consuming government funds that may be better spent elsewhere. According to a study, standardized tests are estimated to cost some states more than $1.7 billion each year. In addition, the educational system in the United States is rife with inequity. Updated materials, financing for teachers, school psychologists, more after-school programs, and other initiatives are needed in schools around the country, according to a Rutgers University study, all of which have a beneficial impact on student achievement. Instead, this money is currently going toward student assessments, depriving children of crucial resources that they would greatly benefit from.
Furthermore, tests like the SATs may be skewed against students from affluent families; if they can afford to attend an expensive school or prep course, and if they don’t have to work, they will most certainly perform higher on such examinations.
- Taking it out on the teachers
Teachers’ success is judged by their students’ standardized test scores. These scores, however, are based on the overall performance of all of the students’ teachers rather than on the performance of a single teacher. Even though standardized test scores have long been a poor indicator of teacher effectiveness, most states use them as a teacher evaluation measure. In fact, states like New York recommended increasing the weight of this tool in measuring teacher effectiveness to 50% before the pandemic. A system that punishes and rewards teachers based on test scores will not help pupils receive a better education.
- Does standardized testing help students succeed?
Standardized examinations did not come out anywhere; there is evidence that they teach vital abilities to kids. Dr. Richard Phelps outlines his conclusions after evaluating 100+ years of research on standardized tests in his book “Defending Standardized Testing,” concluding that standardized tests had a favorable impact on student achievement in 93 percent of studies. Furthermore, cognitive studies have discovered that taking tests in general aids students in long-term memory retention.
Parting words,
Because we need internal and external assessments to monitor student achievement, standardized testing is a complex subject. However, when assessments are used as data to help schools enhance the quality of their teaching and learning, they are beneficial.
When exams are used to assess children’s innate skills and educators are pressured to “teach to the test,” they become destructive. Standardized exams should never be viewed as a value judgment on a kid; instead, they should be considered an additional data point that can help schools and parents better understand their students’ learning.
Do you believe that standardized tests should be used in schools?
Author bio
Alison Lewis is a renowned and reputed educator in a prestigious university in the UK. She is associated with MyAssignmenthelp.com, through which Alison provides several types of assignment help, dissertation experts to students worldwide. In addition, Alison loves to travel alone in her spare time.
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