Katie Berg

Standardized Testing
Topic: Standardized Testing
General Purpose: To Persuade
Specific Purpose: To Persuade the Audience that it is not necessary
Thesis: Standardized Testing is not needed because it does not demonstrate how
well students are doing in school nor does it demonstrate their competence or
knowledge.
INTRODUCTION
I.

Attention Getting Device: Imagine that no matter how much the

teachers prepare you or give you tips like: get a good nights rest and eat
a good breakfast the next morning, or knowing that you know the
information you might still feel anxious over this test. Maybe youre not a
test taker or maybe youre just awesome at it. No matter what the
situation is standardized testing is something we are all too familiar with.

II.

Relevance of Topic to Audience: Its relevant because everyone should

have/has taken some sort of Standardized test during their time in Primary
or Secondary Education.

III.

Establish Credibility: I have taken these tests and by researching more

about it I have found that it is really not a very good measurement tool of
learning.

IV.

Thesis: Standardized Testing is not needed because it does not

demonstrate how well students are doing in school nor does it
demonstrate their competence or knowledge.

V.

Preview: To help better understand why it is important I am going to talk

about:
a. Effects on Students
b. Schools and the School reform

[Transition: To start Id like to talk about the students]

BODY
I.

Students
a. Many students struggle with Test Anxiety

Katie Berg
i.

According to the article: Beating the Butterflies by Michelle

Sidrane, 61% of students report being affected by test anxiety.
And The same study suggests that students with high levels
score an average of 15 points lower on standardized English and
Math exams than those with low anxiety.

ii. This goes to show that students with test anxiety on average do
worse. This means that they walk into a test like the ACT and
already they are potentially going to receive at least 20 out of
35. To get into most colleges it is expected to have at least a 22
ACT score. This puts them at a real disadvantage.
iii. Michelle also states NCLB mandates massive state
administered standardized testing. The reality is that students
are bombarded with the importance and significance of
standardized tests starting on the first day of school.
iv. Most people are well aware that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is
probably not the best work of legislation, especially in the
education field. Michelle is simply bringing up the point that
Students know and receive extra anxiety or stress because of
how much weight is being thrust upon their shoulder to do well.
NCLB only increases the anxiety in students because so much
for the school and their future educational careers ride on these
tests.
b. Then there is the flip side of the coin, the students who are just really
good test takers.
i.

To many students who do well in school and really crank out

good grades and GPAs it can be seen as an unfair assessment
especially if they are not a good test taker or have test anxiety.
Not that all students who are good test takers do not achieve
good grades in regular schooling, but let us take the example of
the slacker in regular schooling and the A+ student in schooling
and hand them a standardized test. Now the slacker achieves a
really good score close to perfect, while the A+ student receives
an average or below average score. Does this really reflect each
student accurately? Is the A+ student considered stupid?

ii. In short, standardized testing does not reflect or show much

about the student. It is just a number that does not reflect
anything about their work ethic or their true competence. I can
speak personally. I tend to struggle with test anxiety and when I
took standardized tests I never did well, and when I worked
through the problems again at home, it became evident that I

Katie Berg

did know the correct answer but for some reason I picked the
wrong one on the tests.
[Transition: Now that we have discussed the students let continue on to the
schools.]
II.

Not only are the Students under a lot of stress, but the schools too.
a. According to William Beaver in his article: Can No Child Left Behind
Work? he states: The most perverse problem with high-stakes tests is
that they have become a substitute for the curriculum instead of
simply a measure of it(10).
b. This is probably the most common issue with standardized testing
currently. The fact that many schools emphasize so much on
standardized testing and doing well takes an entire unit now in the
spring and fall for testing in grades 3-8. This poses another issue as
stated by Beaver again: With so much emphasis placed on tests,
teaching may become more narrow and mechanical, while negating
the more individual and creative aspects that draw people to the
profession(10). Because standardized testing is becoming a huge part
of the curriculum it is not drawing in many people who would be,
otherwise outstanding teachers, because they are not really being able
to give the students everything they have to offer. The quality of
teaching has gone down so that the students can just pass the tests.
c. Though reforms like NCLB take place, according to Mike Ross in his
article The Mismeasure of Teaching and Learning he states: you
rarely find portrayals of classroom life in the thousands of pages of
school reform documents. Students and teachers are discussed, to be
sure, but as abstractions, stick figures on a policy grid (33). Thus this
proves that though many reformers seek to make the Education
system better they do not really pay attention to what is going on in
the classroom.
i.

I feel my high school; Lyons Township High School of LaGrange,

IL is a great example. According to reforms such as NCLB, my
school is considered a failing school because of the standardized
testing averages. But one thing is for sure. The school is way
beyond excellent. There are over 4,000 students in the school
and you cant expect that every single student, Special
Education, English Language Learners, and all other students to
be that perfect or near perfect score. The school also has plenty
of classes to offer making the school extremely well rounded.
From Auto-shop, to Aviation, Teaching Internship, Business Law,
to your regular basic classes, the school offers so much for a

Katie Berg

student to really find what they might want to do in their future.

How is this a failing school if the average class size is just over
1,000 and 995 of them graduate?
ii. Ross also states in his article: How schools and districts perform
on the tests has big consequences and can ultimately lead to
sanctions, withholding of federal funding, and a change in
leadership (34). So basing everything on test score creates
more problems than there really needs to be. Students still learn
something even if they have the worst teacher ever. So like Mike
Ross argues through his article, why dont we just focus on the
important things, like students learning and having excellent
teachers teach?
[Transition: To Conclude]
CONCLUSION
Standardized testing is an important part of the schooling curriculum, and it
does not benefit the teacher or the student. It has more negative effects than
positive and does not show anything about the student or their true abilities. It also
pushes good educators away because the curriculum is so heavily based on passing
the test. To help our education of future generations we should delete Standardized
Testing from the education system.

Bibliography
Beaver, William. Informed Commentary: Can No Child Left Behind Work?.
American Secondary Education 32(2).2004. Omnifile Full Text Select (H.W.
Wilson).
Web.
02
March
2012.
<
http://web.ebscohost.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/ehost/detail?
vid=8&hid=106&sid=96f32732-3d25-4661-861d3fa47901d631%40sessionmgr112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGI2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=ofs&AN=50 >

Katie Berg

Rose, Mike. The Mismeasure or Teaching and Learning: How contemporary School
Reform Fails the Test. Dissent (00123846); Spring 2011, Vol. 58 Issue 2.
Omnifile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 02 April 2012. <
http://web.ebscohost.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/ehost/detail?
vid=5&hid=15&sid=d6ab3419-a991-4b8a-8876-cb7aaafc011b
%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=ofs&AN=59573592 >
Sidrane, Michelle. American Education: Beating the Butterflies. USA Today
Periodical: 136 Mr 2008. Omnifile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29
March 2012. < http://web.ebscohost.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/ehost/detail?
vid=14&hid=15&sid=d6ab3419-a991-4b8a-8876-cb7aaafc011b
%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=ofs&AN=504436037 >