English 1312: OpEd-Standardized Testing

Standardized Testing in Schools

Stress levels at an all time high, pressure and expectations rising and students only learning the minimum amount of information required for the test. All of these things are due to standardized testing in the United States. Most children in the United States attend a public school and therefore are forced to take a standardized test. It has been said that the United States is falling behind in education and what could be the cause of this? Some suggest this is due to standardized testing.

A standardized test is a test that is scored in a consistent manner and was brought into the school systems in an attempt to reform schools in the United States. This is a wide spread issue because in reality it affects most people in the United States, whether it?s a student, parent, sibling, teacher, etc. We are often already in the habit of taking these standardized tests that we seldom stop and think about the consequences that they actually bring along with them. Some of these consequences include: not receiving a complete education, only learning what is on the test, extreme amounts of pressure, cheating and much more. I myself had to take the standardized tests, TAKS at the time, and I still remember feeling extremely pressured because I knew that in order to graduate I had to pass these standardized tests. I also remember that after the test was taken, nothing was taught in the classrooms anymore, everyday after the test became a movie day, early release day or some other easy day. I do not think this is right, because it takes so much out of learning for students. There are so many more things that students would be able to learn if there was no standardized test and therefore this semester I decided to write about standardized testing and once I was able to state my point of view, I decided that I would advocate against standardized testing. ?I read blogs and articles about standardized testing all semester to see how others felt about it and according to The 6^th Floor Blog, 47% of readers argue that standardized testing should be eliminated or minimized, because it negatively impacts students? self esteem and learning. I do agree with this, because as mentioned above, the only thing that is taught or focused on in classrooms is what is on the test and nothing more. Often, due to these standardized tests students are unprepared for what college holds and are not ready for the workload. I believe that we in the United States should adapt to what some other countries do, that teachers are the ones to develop a test at the end of the semester. I believe that this should be adapted because the teachers know you best and are aware of what they taught you and how they taught you these things. I personally lived and attended school in Germany and there was no such thing as a standardized test, my teachers were the ones who developed and administered the test. I enjoyed that much more, because teachers were able to teach so much more and teach things that they found important for life. From my perspective, students would feel much more comfortable if the test was written by their teacher, rather than someone who has never entered their classroom. Therefore, I believe that this would be a much needed policy change. By making this policy change, teachers would be able to focus on things they would like to teach and what they believe is important for the students? future life. Teachers would also be able to teach in a different way and students? would be able to take much more from this type of teaching. I truly do believe that this would be a great change for the public schools in the United States. Teachers would be able to teach more, teach better, stress levels would be minimized and learning maximized.



The STAFF (February 22, 2013). Are Standardized Tests Worth the ???????? Stress? Retrieved from ? Hursh, D. (2005). The growth of high-stakes testing in the ???????? USA: accountability, markets and the decline in educational ???????? Equality. Retrieved from



Projects of Zack booth Simpson: Why I hate Standardized Tests [image]. ???????? Retrieved from:

Source: http://utepengaudrey.blogspot.com/2013/05/oped-standardized-testing.html

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