Standardized Tests
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Last updated on: 6/14/2012 12:04:08 PM PST

Is the use of standardized tests improving education in America?

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PRO (yes) Comments (5)

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  • +3 +25 -22 Tosh Nov. 10, 2012
    "Yes. Measuring basic ability like reading, writing and thinking by standardized test is good for teachers and students. By which we are able to know our strong points and weak points. The real problem is sometimes the measure itself (in this case the SCORE itself) becomes the purpose, or even the goal. We have to admit the diversity of intelligence. For example we can use a one-on-one interview as the way to measure communication skills as the secondary test. We use PC even if we have i-phone. So the thing is we can maintain standardized tests to some extent. But at the same time we can develop the structure of the test. Therefore I am for standardized tests."
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    • +2 +2 0 CON! Dec. 17, 2012
      "There are better ways to measure how well children are doing; by using assessments, we can measure how well children are doing in other skills besides reading, writing and math. Schools is not just for academics, its for shaping children to be good citizens and get good jobs and higher education.
      Also, standardized test are the same for all students-this is unfair. Some students have disabilities, some can read english, and not every child has the same learning experience."
    • +1 +1 0 dt Nov. 25, 2012
      "what about speaking and doing: in esl, one can pass a test on banking, but can still find it problamatic to open a bank account and mail a check in a foreign land. Thus, i've always forced students to "do" as a form of homework/ class participation through survey reports, debates, etc...after "doing"."
  • +1 +6 -5 Courtney Apr. 15, 2013
    "Standardized testing is an adequate way of measuring student achievement. It is not subjective like how some teachers grade and is a better way to show ability of a student."
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  • -3 +11 -14 dt Nov. 25, 2012
    "It seems to have worked for all of my students in Asia whom now have begun their international studies with obvious advantages over the typical American student; for trinity; sat; gre; gmat, and other such tests, one need not teach the test, but provide suplimentarry lessons that use all four types of learners' preferances..."
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    • +2 +2 0 k3g Apr. 2, 2013
      "Asian students test at the age of 11 to determine if they go on to college education or not. Those that do not pass must make other choices that no 11 year old should. Ask any Asian parent why they were pushed so hard as a child."
  • -7 +4 -11 terri Apr. 7, 2013
    "I think it is necessary to keep teachers in line and hold them accountable for the job we pay them for. Before, they would send the work home for parents to deal with. I think they are complaining because they actually have to account for their failure rate and acually help struggling students get it. They dont like this because it is more work for them and might cause them a little more stress. The kids deserve to learn the basics of reading, writing and math no matter how hard it may be for them, and teachers need to account for these basic fundamentals. After all, they chose to be teachers and they make better money than blue collar workers. Im tired of their complaining about how hard it is for them and their students. And shame on those who cheat their students out of an education to get bonuses and admiration! You deserve to get your teaching certificates revoked indefinatly."
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  • -24 +4 -28 Jen Nov. 24, 2012
    "Because students need to sucess in every way"
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CON (no) Comments (27)


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  • +37 +55 -18 Mary Flowers Oct. 9, 2012
    "I am "Con" because, as a middle school teacher, I have seen the drive for high standardized test scores as the ONLY measure of a student's and a school's success completely change the way I teach, and not because I am using "best practices." Before NCLB, most of my teaching was focused on authentic, real-world projects. I had time to teach. Now, because I teach in a "low-performing" school, I am forced to actually teach to the test. I must give weekly standardized tests and reteach until my students can pass these tests. I must simultaneously teach the next set of standardized test skills. We are currently 9 weeks into the school year and, besides these weekly multiple choice tests, I have given five district-wide standardized tests to my students. I no longer have time for real-world or authentic projects. I only have time to teach to the test, test, and reteach to the test. My students are becoming excellent multiple-choice test takers, but they cannot actually apply these skills in any real-world situations. I teach 6th grade Reading and Language Arts, and the majority of my students actually function at about the 3rd grade level if given a real-world task. They cannot read or write. They can only bubble in answer sheets."
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    • -1 0 -1 Terri Apr. 7, 2013
      "sounds to me like you have been passed the problem to deal with. these kids should already know the basics of reading and math. Hopefully the test will keep teachers from passing the problem and actually fail a student until they are at a grade level they can understand."
  • +15 +32 -17 Daniel Sep. 27, 2012
    "I just don't feel that standardized tests are a very good way to measure how good a school is, or how effective the teachers are. So much of what determines how well a student will do on these tests is stuff like how the child was raised. There's only so much a teacher can do to improve his/her students' scores.

    Also, I read in Freakonomics that a lot of teachers cheat and change their students' answers when they know that their pay is going to be based on the performance of their students. So we may not be getting accurate results anyway.

    Finally, I don't feel that these tests should be stressed so much because they don't really give an accurate depiction of many necessary skills that students should learn. I got a 35 on the Math section of my ACT, yet a lot of people with lower ACT scores did MUCH better than me in my high school pre-calc and calc classes. Sure I could do the most basic problems better than most, but if I don't have the skills required to solve the kinds of problems that are less formulaic and involve more critical thinking, then I can kiss any hope of majoring in Mathematics good-bye.

    So while I can sympathize with the need people feel to incentivize good teaching skills, this may not be the best way."
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    • +3 +3 0 Andrew Sep. 28, 2012
      "A well-reasoned contribution, Daniel! The spirit of invention that has figured so prominently in United States history, it seems to me, is the antithesis of the "pick one of four" skills measured on standardized tests. It's frightening to see the massive amount of time teachers and students are spending on this whole process in recent years. The lack of mass standardized testing didn't seem to hamper our innovative ancestors."
  • +12 +28 -16 Jim K Oct. 15, 2012
    "1) You cannot test quality into a product. In other words, quality improvement cannot just come from testing. Testing for school recognition and not child improvement is wrong.
    2) Tests are limited as to what they can evaluate. Math; certainly, reading; to a degree, science; somewhat, writing; not without difficulty, creativity; no, music; somewhat, art; somewhat, the whole person; not at all.
    3) All children are lumped together as if they are all the same, at the same learning level, come from the same background, have breakfast every morning and can be be improved using the same method.
    4) Testing takes away from class time and costs money that doesn't need to be spent."
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  • +9 +21 -12 Meg E Oct. 31, 2012
    "One or two Standardized tests are fine, but we use them way too much. It is an incentive for cheating with teachers, and an emotionally stressful experience for everyone. Every person id different, so they should be tested according to their personal skills, not to government standards. NCLB causes schools to go to desperate measures to meet a standard that shouldn't have been set in the first place. My school uses standardized testing all the time, and I hate it. Not because I'm lazy, or don't want to do the work, or don't know the material, but because it stifles classroom creativity, and I don't feel likeI am giving a true measure of my full potential."
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    • 0 0 0 kg3 Apr. 3, 2013
      "Wise words from young minds! At least the testing has not dulled your ability to properly express yourself. Well done and thumbs way up!"
  • +6 +21 -15 Erin Gwaltney Nov. 4, 2012
    "I am Con because, as a student, I am drilled with "this will be on the test" information. When I ask my teachers a question that pertains to the subject, but is not on the test, my question often times goes unanswered. Standarized tests are what I am taught to take. When I am taught, I am even told what percentage of the test the material I am learning will be. Colleges look at all of these standarized tests with all of these different scores and scoring methods and they cannot easily compare how well a student did on one test compared to another. I am thoroughly against any and all standarized tests. I am even writing a research paper on the disadvantages they provide. I am also, in conjunction with the paper, performing a survey at my school to find how many students actually benefit from being "taught to the test". When I read the "Pros" on this site, I wanted to scream at how stupid the information was. I am frustrated to the core at how someone could possibly think that a standardized test is a way to run education. My younger sister stressed about standarized tests in KINDERGARTEN! That is not how our education systems should be run..

    I also laughed a little at the fact that there are no Pro comments..."
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  • +3 +12 -9 Student Dec. 17, 2012
    "I am con because as a middle schooler I was subjected to taking the keystone exams which determine if I am eligible to graduate from high school. A lot of pressure for someone who isn't even in high school."
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    • 0 0 0 Rachel May. 16, 2013
      "i agree with you i would of flipped on that school."
  • +2 +3 -1 S.wright Apr. 26, 2013
    "These test are only causing kids to overly stress out. I've seen kids get pulled out because of headaches and throwing up. Teacher are teaching the test and placing added pressure to the kids because what the test represents to them and about them. This has become so bad as teachers and other school official are choosing to either label the kids or cheat to get the outcome they wish to have so that the school get a good grade, which equate to more money. When are we going to stop this madness? And get back to teaching the basics. We want teacher that love teaching so that our kids can feel like school is fun not just a military school environment. This is not helping our kids or teachers."
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  • +1 +2 -1 og May. 9, 2013
    "Im with the con side because what happens if a student speaks a different language instead of english as their first language and the test is in english. What happens then?"
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  • +1 +2 -1 Jaivir Baweja May. 4, 2013
    "With standardized testing, we are putting the creativity of our students in the trash, due to "skill and drill" and memorization practices. They are unfair, favoring the rich and do not keep up with what is known about learning today. In other words, a huge NO and they must be banned ASAP!"
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  • +1 +4 -3 Abby Apr. 17, 2013
    "I don't want to be a statistic compared to everyone else, I went to school to learn, and expand my knowledge, not learn based off a standard set by the state. I want to learn things off the cuff, and miss having a different and dynamic teacher every year. Now teachers have to teach you based off standard not to what they feel is important. Plus they are using you just to rank your school, I don't want to learn to be ranked as a school, I want to learn to be a better person. At the high school I went to, they would give us goal sheets every year and make us make a goal based off our previous test score, which made no sense. I got almost a perfect on World History... they expected 100% in US history... they aren't the same, I do good in geometry, they expect that in Algebra II, it's not the same... How about the fact they don't test you on Trig in your trig class, they test you on previous math? Standardized testing as opened the gates for EDI, a method of teaching that emphasizes repeating until it's understood, there's only 180 days of high school, I've had times where things weren't covered for their precious tests, and was left to guess because they took too long to teach something else."
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  • +1 +4 -3 Whitney Daulton Apr. 8, 2013
    "I'm a con because I have seen the drive for high standardized test scores as the ONLY measure of a student's and a school's success completely change the way a Teacher teaches , and not because they are using "best practices."
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  • +1 +9 -8 Gewy Jan. 10, 2013
    "Standardized testing has several facts against it. A) It forces teachers to teach to a test instead of teaching things that are interesting. B) Some students do not test well. C) Standardized testing is a respected institution because of No Child Left Behind. Everyone is expected to be on a certain level, and if they aren't, they are held back."
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  • +1 +9 -8 Alek J. Hidell Dec. 25, 2012
    "It's a no for me. I think that most schools, when subject to standardized testing, will simply teach to the test (i.e. not teach at all!) Besides that, as has already been pointed out by another user, tests are limited in the amount they can measure. I mean, how do you evaluate a piece of art? A song? The rationale for standardized testing is that it ensures weaker students don't get left behind. On the contrary, I think it is actually detrimental to them as the 'weaker' students either get more time and attention, which demeans them and looks unfair to other students, or they get picked on by teachers and classmates, which puts them off learning and defeats the whole purpose of testing. The final point I'd like to make is that these tests don't just overlook other abilities, they repress them. Even in a class where you are not taught solely for the test, the pressure on the teachers causes them to repress other, higher-level stuff and often unorthodox, but correct ways of thinking about stuff are repressed. Take it from me-coming from a class where some people play to the tests and some people actually attempt to learn, the teachers pick the side of the test preppers."
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  • +1 +12 -11 Margot Dec. 6, 2012
    "I am con because as a student myself I see teachers focus their teachings strictly towards what is on standardized tests. We are rarely taught about real world situations, which will help us more later in life than our scores on standardized tests."
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  • +1 +14 -13 Elijah Johnson Nov. 8, 2012
    "I believe that these tests dont help a thing when it comes to education. When they tell us about these tests, the teachers stress us out about how if we dont pass it, then they wont get their bonus or how we,ll drop out of school. But when they tell us this, it makes the students not think straight, therefore we fail or score low. As a result, we have to learn things we already know, which takes up space for learning something new."
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    • -2 0 -2 dt Nov. 25, 2012
      "I guess the best teachers with US citizenship are teaching overseas; we call it volunteering, and are very happy if in return for university placement, we recieve beer. Perhaps, you should try studying in China, or remind your teacher that they can be easily replaced by khan acadamy, mit, and the like...there's better money waiting tables, but one doesn't get the same returns on investment of their time. It sounds as if you'd be better of with a tablet watching harvard on youtube."
  • 0 +5 -5 k3g Apr. 2, 2013
    "The US has one of the highest rates of anxiety and ADHD in the world.ADHD or anxiety-which came first?After 12 years in the Texas public education system,I realize why my children(all A/B students)struggle with anxiety-State Testing.The pressure the district,teachers&students put on each other is insane.We lived in the UK for 9 years and they have school testing but it is to determine if the school and administrators are meeting the educational needs(and government curriculum)of students.My daughter,now a senior in one of the top 10 high schools in Texas,did not pass the 8th grade TAKS Math by 1 question-she was making a C+ that year(her 'lowest' grade)and when she was informed of her "no pass",she was a wreck because of the "no promotion" rule.The school worked with us and we made it clear that students passing should not be held back because of 1 test result,they agreed.14 days this academic year of testing.This number does not include district assessment and end of course(STAAR)for high schools and final exams.Don't forget the Iowa test too!Enough is enough.Spend more time teaching and less testing.Hire and pay good teachers well and let them teach.State Testing?Sure but test the school-good teachers have nothing to hide."
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  • 0 +5 -5 Alex B. Apr. 2, 2013
    "Standardized test are not as important to the students but it is to show how well the schools have taught the students. For example, lets say Timmy was taught by a not so good teacher and didn't do good on a standardized test. Who does this reflect on? Timmy's teacher is to take for the blame. So it just goes to show that standarized test are not improving education but judges the teachers."
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    • 0 0 0 A May. 2, 2013
      "That is kind of the point."
  • 0 +7 -7 Klair Dec. 17, 2012
    "Due to standardized test, schools are taking time away from student's time to explore their interest in the art, music, photography, cooking, wood shop, automotive, etc. They are also taking away time from P.E classes and recess to focus more on the academics. Studies have shown that by decreasing time in other classes (or completely eliminating them) has not shown any increase in test scores, in fact, increasing time for recess or classes like P.E. have increase student's scores because physical exercise releases chemicals in the body that actually help memory and allow children to do better on test scores. Also by cutting out other classes to teach to the test does not allow time for students to focus on their interests that can help them aide in there college or career choices. It also has children sitting in desks for 8 hours a day and so children don't have the chance to move which is just helping our obesity problem!"
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  • -1 +3 -4 Mel Apr. 22, 2013
    "I'm CON for several reasons. Most importantly because they don't measure intelligence. Intelligence cannot be measured using ANY standardized test. My son is smarter than I am in math and yet I out test him significantly (because I'm a better test taker, not because I'm smarter). Additionally, when I took the stupid tests in school, I simply filled in the bubbles to make a picture (up until placement testing in math for college). Kids do not have the neuronal connections to give a crap about a test like this. Not only do most not have the capacity to care but even most of those that have some capacity to care simply don't. Kids live for the moment. The brain isn't even fully maturated until 21 and then is still not done creating new connections until 25. It's a waste of money and doesn't show ANYTHING (unless you're comparing pictures kids can make using the bubbles ;) ). I am also highly concerned about how schools have become sites for learning how to take these tests and that's almost it. Actual learning has been thrown out the window. Music and art programs have almost been entirely eliminated.... music is proven to help kids learn better; where's the push for more music?"
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  • -2 +6 -8 Annoymous Dec. 17, 2012
    "No, because it pressures students and teachers. As far as it get it pressure school board. Over all it all connect and pressure everyone that is connected to the test."
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  • -2 +6 -8 Cameron Maldonado Dec. 13, 2012
    "Not all students are the same there fore no one can have the same improvment"
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  • -3 +3 -6 Bradley Apr. 24, 2013
    "Schools spend many weeks preparing for these test when they should be teaching the kids things that are actually important to learn"
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  • -3 +1 -4 Alex Apr. 22, 2013
    "i dont like standertized testing because its stupid. I hate taking them there for it should not be required to take"
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  • -3 +3 -6 alakir wardlaw Feb. 6, 2013
    "we care about the test not the scores"
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  • -5 +11 -16 Nicole Gordon Oct. 30, 2012
    "Homeschoolers are required to take these tests too. Homeschooling parents are the ones who teach their children, so they know exactaly how their children are doing, and these tests are just a waste of time and money for them."
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  • -7 +6 -13 Angel Dec. 2, 2012
    "The tests are basing high school graduation in new mexico."
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  • -7 +9 -16 Randy Oct. 31, 2012
    "Standardized testing bites.. I have worked with people just out of high school that can not cut any thing 3 3/4 they can't read a ruler.. Go to any store and if the computer was down they cannot count you change back...that's just a small part of it there is so much more..."
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    • 0 0 0 dt Nov. 25, 2012
      "if a student lacks proficiency in a skill, ever think about teaching."
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