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Lauren Williams

Mr. Coleman

English 11

15 March 2017

Standardized Testing

Education is something most people throughout the world receive, although it may not be

the same quality in every location. Students deserve to have an education that fits their needs,

and in order to do so they need to be assessed by accurate resources. Standardized testing is a

common method used to help understand how developed a student is in a certain subject. For

example the ACT or American College Testing is what colleges in the United States use to

compare candidates from different schools and different states. Despite the fact that standardized

testing is a commonly used practice of assessing students, it is not accurate. K-12 students should

not be required to take standardized tests in school because it does not benefit learning.

According to The Washington Post an average student in the United States is given about

one hundred and twelve standardized test from kindergarten to their senior year in high school

(Strauss). That is about twenty to twenty-five hours every school year that could be spent

correctly assessing a child’s educational ability. Standardized tests have many problems such as

forcing teachers to teach the curriculum that will be on the test, not succumbing to student’s

needs, and not accurately testing students. Students’ education is what will be on the line by not

having an accurate source to assess them.

Standardized tests should not be used to judge the quality of education. James Popham

compares standardized testing to using a tablespoon to measure temperature. He states

“Tablespoons have a different measurement mission than indicating how hot or cold something
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is. Standardized achievement tests have a different measurement mission than indicating how

good or bad a school is. Standardized achievement tests should be used to make the comparative

interpretations that they were intended to provide.” Standardized tests were initially created to

assess education, but it seems as if it is doing more harm than good.

Standardized testing forces teachers to teach to the test, not teaching in a way that may be

best to each student’s needs. Teaching to the test means that teachers have a curriculum that is

mainly focused on getting students prepared to standardize test. Students who have trouble

learning and retaining information are really hurt by this method of teaching. The web article

How Standardized Testing Damages Education states that students are more likely to get a

“dumbed-down” curriculum, strictly based on practicing for standardized tests. Also, in some

school districts testing results have become one of the most important indicators of school

performance. Longo states “School districts are jockeying to surpass each other over one thing:

test results. For many all that matters is test results” (4).

All students learn differently, some at faster paces and some at slower paces. Testing has

a greater effect on students who have harder time retaining information. When students have to

prepare for standardized testing all year, it takes away from getting help with areas they may not

understand. Tim Walker conducted a survey of 1500 National Education Service members where

they were asked if they thought the required tests were developmentally appropriate. The results

were shocking, seventy percent thought that they were developmentally inappropriate. Another

reason standardized testing is inappropriate is because students with learning disabilities also are

effected. A kid with dyslexia taking a computerized test is not going to do very well.

Standardized testing is unfair to students who have a harder time processing information.
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Standardized tests do not accurately test students. Many attributes of students cannot be

measured, such as: creativity, motivation, resilience, persistence, and critical thinking. These

characteristics are just as, if not more, important as cognitive abilities. On another spectrum, who

gets to decide what achievement really means? Achievement is way more than just a good score

on a test, achievement can include classroom participation, teacher’s professional development

patterns, and student course taking patterns. Why is achievement limited to just a score on a test

when there is so much more to it? Also, standardized test do not accurately test students because

it is more about memorization than anything else. Andy Hudlow states “The goal of standardized

testing is not to find out how well you think through problems, or if you can express your

opinions, or create a presentation, the goal is to find out what you were able to memorize” (1).

Others may say that standardized testing is important because it is a useful tool to hold

teachers, schools, and districts accountable for success or failure. However, this is not a reliable

source. Some students may be outstanding learners in the classroom, but when it comes to testing

they have a hard time. It is not all about how well they do on a test, but more so about how well

they learn, participate, and show leadership in the class. Schools and teachers should not be held

accountable for the failure of students since the tests do not differentiate between students taught

horribly and students taught by the best teacher in the world. Why should teachers be held

accountable when they cannot influence the results by how or what they teach?

Standardized testing should not be required in schools because it has no benefits to

education. Tests cannot measure a student’s ability to learn because there is so much more than

just intellectual ability that goes into learning. Also, teachers should not be held accountable for

failure of the tests because they have no control over what they teach. Standardized tests are not
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an accurate way of assessing students. A new form of assessing students’ needs to be adopted so

that students can get the maximum education that they need.
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Works Cited

Hudlow, Andy. “Standardized testing is not an accurate measure of intelligence.” Knight Errant,

bsmknighterrant.org/2014/01/14/standardized-testing-is-not-an-accurate-

measure-of- intelligence/. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.

Longo, Christopher. "Fostering Creativity or Teaching to the Test? Implications of State Testing

on the Delivery of Science Instruction." Clearing House, vol. 83, no. 2, Jan.

2010, pp. 54-57.EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00098650903505399.

Popham, James. “Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality.” Educational

Leadership:Using Standards and Assessments:Why Standardized Tests Don't

Measure Educational Quality, www.ascd.org/publications/educational-

leadership/mar99/vol56/num06/Why-Standardized-Tests-Don't-Measure-Educational-

Quality.aspx. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Strauss, Valerie. “Confirmed: Standardized testing has taken over our schools. But who’s to

blame?” The Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2015,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/10/24/confirmed-standardized-

testing- has-taken-over-our-schools-but-whos-to-blame/?

utm_term=.ba2ddda5dd53. Accessed 8 Mar. 2017.

“Survey: 70 Percent Of Educators Say State Assessments Not Developmentally

Appropriate.” NEA Today, 9 Mar. 2016, neatoday.org/2016/02/18/standardized-tests-not-

developmentally-appropriate/. Accessed 12 Mar. 2017.