Standardized Testing

May 23, 2017

Standardized testing is something that many lawmakers believe is important for students to take in order for the state to be able to tell whether both students are learning and teachers are teaching the students properly. These things are important to lawmakers to try to make more laws and programs to help students excel in their studies. On the other hand, students and parents believe that standardized testing is something that wastes time and money that could be going to more teachers and be spent more directly on the student’s education. Along with these beliefs they think that standardized testing is just another way for the lawmakers to seem like they are doing productive things, as well as a scam by the testing companies making millions on the time and supplies used for this standardized testing.

Standardized testing is disliked by students’ parents and some teachers alike for the reason that the testing wastes crucial instructional time that could be spent learning and teaching the students the things that they need to prepare for on the final exams that the state mandates, and on top of that as an example in Washoe County School District every final exam is worth 20% of the final grade. The fact that we take these final exams causes stress over whether many students will pass the class but on top of that the students are forced to take standardized tests like the End of Course Exam (EOC) which students also need to pass in order to graduate.
On the other hand of standardized testing state officials and believe that standardized testing gives valuable information and statistics about how much the students are retaining form their education in each course, as well as to be able to compare it to different students in the same course and grade across the county. These statistics can show the weaknesses and strengths of both students and teachers alike.

Secondly on the side of disliking the standardized testing, it causes un-needed stress on students and teachers to learn and teach all of the content in a time span that is unrealistic for the dates set for the standardized tests such as the EOC’s. Another statistic is that the united states needs to raise its education level to match the rest of the world. This testing wastes time and gives money to the testing companies who make millions in the supplies and the actual test itself which need to be paid for and administered. The stress caused by this examination that is an extra to the other multiple exams across the year, is not needed; it causes an amount of stress that surpases any other generation in history just in high school.

So if standardized testing is disliked so much then why have them, it’s mostly for the lawmakers to get some statistics that they can use to show how good or bad the states as a whole, the counties in each state, and across the whole country are doing when compared to each other. But the truth is that most of standardized testing is just for politicians to  look good and for testing companies to make money off of  something that seems good but is not does correctly. Since standardized testing is done then final exams should be taken away or visa-versa. By only having one test or the other it would reduce stress on the students and make for more instructional time that is more valuable than getting more and more statistics to tell you something that the teacher could tell from simply being in the classroom. So, in conclusion standardized testing should either be taken away or replace final exams because it wastes time and causes more problems for the people involved. By only having one of the two test the students get more instructional time, as well as the state getting all of the money that would be geared towards one of those two tests, and that money could go to more programs and signature schools, or to building more schools or more facilities for the community and students to use.

The author's comments:

The dislike of standardized testing drove me to write this article in my english class

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