If I were to ask you right now if you liked standardized testing, your answer would probably be no. Standardized tests are a form of assessment used in almost every school around the globe. They are used to measure a student’s ability to reach curriculum standards. These tests can be extremely inaccurate, can amount for a lot of stress, and can cause a child to only study a part of the curriculum that is being tested over. Personally, I am an awful test taker. Whether I know all of the information or none of it, I still do not execute to my full potential. I struggle knowing what to study for certain tests and worry that I am not grasping the right things. My stress seems to take over my knowledge in these situations.
The first reason I feel that standardized testing is an inaccurate way of examination is because these tests do not provide an accurate measurement of students. Quoted by Dale D. Johnson and Bonnie Johnson, “Teachers know their students better than any single test can. They know the strengths and weaknesses and capabilities of the children with whom they work daily, week in and week out.” I personally could not have said it better myself. Teachers are the base of every educational project you do. They see how you work best, your progress, and most important, your determination. One test can not do the damage on assessing a student like a teacher can. It is stated that, “To avoid overwhelming teachers and students with daunting lists of curricular targets, an instructional supportive accountability test should measure students’ mastery of only an intellectually manageable number of curricular aims… if fewer benchmarks are to be measured, they must be truly significant.” The overall stress of these tests are not healthy and might harm students more than help.
The second reason I believe that these exams are poor is that standardized testing can dramatically increase anxiety and can have negative health effects. For example, when I was in first grade and up I had to do these assignments: rocket math. Maybe you know what these assignments are, but basically what you do is you get a sheet of paper, this paper has about 25 basic math questions, and you have 1 minute to do all of them. I would get so nervous I would get maybe four done. It seemed like everyone else was done in thirty seconds and all I could focus on was who was all done. I got so stressed I would go home and break down. Even though I knew all my facts, I couldn’t get over the idea of the timed test. A main stressor about these tests is not knowing what to study and never knowing what you need to know. This is a problem because when a student studies the select few items on a test they are missing the hidden curriculum.
The final reason I feel as if standardized testing is not a good form of assessment is that preparation for these tests have been proved to only teach what’s being tested. If I were to ask you what materials you study when you are assigned a test, what would you say? Would you say that you study material that hasn’t been told that it’s on the test? Would you go and look at a more complex version of what you learned? I am assuming all of you would focus your attention on the lesson that you have learned. Maybe even a few things your teacher told you was on the test. This is a major reason for why testing is not always accurate to how much information you retained over a certain lesson.
The overall idea of standardized testing may be in good intentions, but it is not the correct way to test a student’s abilities. One may excel with group work, and enjoy a longer deadline to perfect their work, while others may be too much of a procrastinator and might be excellent with timed assignments. These tests are not anywhere near accurate, and not even necessary. With it not even being accurate, it causes unnecessary stress. The stress can even originate from not being sure if you know everything about the topic you are being tested over, thus resulting in only focusing your attention on what is going to be on the test. I challenge you to think deeper about the next time you get tested. Think, will you be studying harder on the key points on the test or the overall concept? Will you think to take time for yourself so you don’t stress yourself out?
Educational Standards.” Educational Standards, by David L. Hudson, Chelsea House, 2007,
pp. 27.