Are Standardized Tests Necessary?

“All students can learn and succeed, but not all onthe same day , in the same way” (Anonymous).Standardized test are formated in a manner in which it inspires a “simplistic way of thinking”.

In this case your answer is either right or wrong, no in betweens. This way of thinking isnot realistic in real-world situations. (Procon). Not every question has a single answer, one should not force oneself to think like that. Life will be boring if one forces oneself to think like that. Standardized test are not necessary in schools because not only is the preparation time consuming, but also they are not taken seriously and create stress in students.

To begin, people always complain that there is not enough time in the school day, standardized test preparation is not helping that. New York Times journalist Kate Taylor and Motoko Rich have found that, students are spending too much time getting ready for the test. The issue has become more difficult due to the more challenging test aligned with Common Core standards. Thus, the students have less time to focus on classwork. Testings main goal used to be to track a student’s progress, now tracking the education system at the same time.

The increased amount of standardized test had brought more class and homework time devoted to test preparation (Schulten).In a regular school day students already have large amounts of homework and adding the extra practice can lead to children being overworked. Not only is test preparation homework adding to students workload, but the overall class time spent on the test is also doing the same.According to Huffington Post reporters Jennifer C. Kerr and Josh Lederman, standardized testing takes up 2.3 percent of classroom time for the average student.

Aside from the test being unnecessary, teachers are spending multiple class period oftime preparing for the test. The test are given a couple months before the end of school yet they cover a year’s worth of topics. It may seem that with new education standards the preparation for the standardized test can help with the everyday class lessons. The test preparation can help younger ones to prepare for later test like the SATs. Even though it is said that the test preparation betters students learning whoever if the information is equivalent to the test they will not listen because of the large amount of students and teachers who do not take the test seriously.

If students are being taught something they do not care about it is hard to force them to listen. Therefor, standardized test training is not helpful because it is not recognized as important by teachers and students students. Overall, if standardized test are no longer taken, more class time will be able to be devoted to the curriculum. Aside from standardized test taking up a lot of time to prepare for, the test also are not taken seriously by a large amount of students and teachers. Karen E.

Magee, president of New York State United Teachers, encouraged that all parents opt their children out of testing. (Taylor and Rich). It is hard for students to take a test seriously that their own educations are pressuring them not to participate in. At New Mexico’s Valley High School an English teacher stated, students “had fun” when taking the test. They made testing enjoyable by creating designs with the answer bubbles (Procon).

There is no point in taking a test to measure student success if students are not giving their all in the test. Bonita Brodt, Chicago Tribune writer stated that when parents questioned their children on why their scores were so poor the children answered that they, “marked the answer sheet consistently with choice “c””. Aside from students drawing on test some also write down the same letter choice for most questions, still not paying attention to the question. Some opponents argue thatstandardized test multiple choice questions are now more interactive for students and can provide information to measure progress. To answer this one can point out that making questions more interactive for teens is creating more work which is not what they enjoy since it is on a standardized test. The questions will also be ignored because making the questions harder will make the students care less.

Thus the creating of harder and more interactive questions is more work for test companies and will become ignored. As seen, with students and teachers not taking the test seriously the test is serving no purpose in the school systems. In addition, with many students treating the test like a joke there are also many students who get overstressed from the test. Education researcher, Gregory J. Cizek found that the testing increases anxiety in every type of student. The Sacramento Bee, daily newspaper states that “test-related jitters” occur so often that whenthe Stanford-9 exam is given witn information stating what to do with the test booklet if a student vomits on it (Procon).

Life for kids is very stressful and adding the test to their lives is not healthy and can bring unneeded anxiety. Aside from students being stressed about the overall test a bigger stresser is that in some states your test score can determine what grade one will be placed in.Marian Wilde a writer for Great Kids said, in the some states students are subjected to large amounts of stress due to the fact that they must pass their standardized test to advance to the next grade. “About three quarters of psychologists from the state’s nearly 700 school districts said state tests are causing greater anxiety than local assessments, a survey released Friday by the state School Boards Association and the state Association of School Psychologists found” (Spector). Some say that test anxiety is just preparing one for large exams like the SATs, a major role in getting into college. Having a little a bit of a concern over situations isn’t bad because it shows one cares.

Still, one can maintain that for young children to deal with that stress is not good. Accordingly, standardizedtest related jitters are in no way helpful to pupils anddon’t have any good benefits in the long run. Clearly, growing up is stressful and adding standardized testing to the equation is even worse. If it is abolished stress in students will be lessened. As proven, standardized test are not helping today’s world.

They are taking up time in the school day that can be spent on classwork. The test is not being taken seriously by students and teachers. Lastly, they are stressing out many students who have their whole grade based on a score. The standardized test are deteriorating the future of America’s minds. The questions are forcing children to think in a non realistic way which will in no way benefit them as they grow up.

Standardized test need to be abolished so that the children of America can stop being brainwashed from the standardized test they are given at young ages. As the first lady, Michelle Obama said, “Ifmy future were determined just on my performance on a standardized test I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.” Works Cited Kerr, Jennifer C., and Josh Lederman.

“This Is How Much Time Students Actually Spend Taking Standardized Tests.” Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 2016. Web.

25 Apr. 2016. . Pro Con. “Standardized Tests – ProCon.org.

” ProConorg Headlines. ProCon.org, 2016. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

. Schulten, Katherine. “How Seriously Should We Take Standardized Tests?” The Learning Network. The New York Times Company, 2016. Web. 25 Apr.

2016. . Taylor, Kate, and Motoko Rich. “Teachers’ Unions Fight Standardized Testing, and Find Diverse Allies.” The New York Times.

The New York Times, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. .