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Sydney Quach
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
March 30, 2015
Whose Standard is it Anyway?

Imagine someone, whose entire future rests in the next three hours and forty-five
minutes. This person is about to take the SAT, which is one of the most common forms of
standardized tests in todays society. Millions of students take the SAT in order to become more
desirable for colleges. There are many perspectives on whether the tests help or hurt the students
and educational community. This inquiry will further explore the two stronger perspectives on
standardized testing, and will atTEST to what can actually be measured out as standard.
From testing Chinese civil servants in 2200 B.C. to measuring whether a student is ready
for college, standardized testing has been pertinent in our society. All around the world,
standardized testing has been used to see a students performance, test the quality of a servant,
and assisted in college acceptances. Standardized testing directly affects a student throughout
their entire educational career. From performance tests in elementary school to SATs and ACTs
in high school, the abilities of the student were constantly being analyzed from the very
beginning. Each test determined whether or not that student would be put in standard or honors
classes, and once the years went by, whether their score was good enough to get into college.
The Glossary of Educational Reform states the definition of a standardized test as any
form of test that (1) requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of
questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that (2) is scored in a

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standard or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of
individual students or groups of students (Standardized, 2013). Standardized tests werent
always written tests, there were many different forms. Chinese emperors used to give tests to see
if the civil servants knew enough information that was seen as necessary in order to pick which
one would serve under him. Later on, there were oral exams to earn academic degrees. Even
though written exams were existent, the education community remained to favor oral exams over
them (Black, 1998). Eventually, creators of the tests began a more written based test, and after
that came the multiple choice test, which is what we have now. The main mission of
standardized tests are to assess students on a national average to understand what relative
knowledge should be known at the period in which the student is in. Whether this is achieved or
not, comes with further discussion.
Standardized testing benefits teachers and students in a variety of ways. Assessment can
evaluate schools, it can evaluate or certify students, and it can be for improvement (Brown,
2012). Testing allows students to evaluate their own ability, and gives them a safe target, as in
a goal that they can realistically meet. The tests show the students what they exceed in and what
they need to work on. In these ways, student awareness can help improve the test scores, and the
understanding of necessary precautions needed to be done in order to succeed. Not only do the
standardized tests help the students understand what they need to work on, but the teachers as
well. The assessments assist the teachers in understanding what their student needs to focus on in
order to raise the bar. The creators of the test attempt to create an unbiased test that can ensure
the quality and accuracy of the test (Brown, 2012). Test makers go through many resources in
order to create a well-balanced test to assess students fairly. Although there are many benefits
from taking the tests, there are also many precautions in which the educational community must

Commented [cp4]: Maybe define it first before giving the

example?
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Commented [cp7]: Explain the significance of this or
think about possibly removing it
Commented [cp8]: Before addressing a side, make sure
your reader understands that there even is opposing view
points

be aware of in order to have the benefits. If failed to do so, standardized tests begin to have a
larger negative effect than a positive.
The opposition believe that the negative effects DO outweigh the positive. The people
against testing feel that standardized testing yield students in learning to the full ability. The tests

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Commented [cp10]: Make it clear that you oppose this
Commented [cp11]: Dont use opposition, makes your
side seem like the bad side to the reader

are strongly correlated with achievement, so if a student does not do well on the assessment, they
are afraid of how other students will see them, intellectually (Brown, 2012). The stress and
pressure caused by the tests directly and indirectly affect the teachers and the students. As much
as tests are correlated with achievement, achievement is correlated with the ability of the teacher.
This causes teachers to push the idea of teaching to the test and focuses on the achievement
rate rather than further growth (Standardized, 2014). Students also have the mentality to learn
what is necessary, and then get rid of the information after the fact. Opponents also find that the
test has a natural bias against the normality of the test. There are different experiences that
students face from the moment that they are born, and opponents believe that this may cause
some students to answer incorrectly. James Popham, a professor that focuses on teacher
education at UCLA states, The higher your family's socioeconomic status is, the more likely
you are to do well on a number of the test items you'll encounter in a such a test. (Membership,
1999). Although those are not the intentions of the test makers, it still greatly affects students that
may have lived different lifestyles than those that created the test.
There are so many different outlooks at which I understand, but as a student with terrible
test taking skills, I find it hard to accept the idea that standardized testing is good where it is. The
idea of standardized testing is quite brilliant, but just like religion, it didnt play out to be where
it was supposed to be. Remember that someone taking the test that would affect the rest of
his/her life? That was me, my junior year. When I started my junior year of high school, I wasnt

Commented [cp12]: Like the personal note

directly worried about college and the rest of my life, I was worried about being prepared for the
SAT. I say directly because I knew that if I got a good score on this test, I could go to the school
of my choice, and live out my life exactly as I planned. Everyone in my school knew that you
had to take the SAT once if you wanted to get accepted into college. It was no longer fun and
games, but piles and piles of stress. My brother, 2 years older than me, received above average
on the test, and my family expected me to do the same even though he was gifted with natural
intelligence and I wasnt. I studied for months before my first test. I bought books that were
supposed to help me get a better score and be more prepared. Once the day came, I had my two
number two pencils, my ID, and my pass to take the test. I felt prepared and fairly confident for
this three hour and forty-five minute test, but when I got into my seat, every ounce of composure
left. With every tick of the clock, I felt my future slowly slipping away. I will never forget that I
sat in my chair for three hours and forty-five minutes believing that I wasnt going to be accepted
into the college of my dreams because of this stupid test.
Thats why I was always opposed to the idea of standardized testing. It made me believe
that I wasnt smart and that I wasnt ready to go to college, even though I was an honor roll
student in the top ten percent of my class. A few weeks later, I got my result back, and I got an
average score. Although average isnt bad, I was an above average student, and that caused my
heart to sink, because I knew, in my mind, I could do better. Eventually, I realized that the SAT
didnt encompass who I was as a student, or how smart I was. It was just a test that colleges
relied on to further acceptances and get a feel for who I was as a student.
Throughout this inquiry, since I was an opponent to the standardized tests, I discovered a
lot of things about the proponents perspectives on standardized testing. There are always going
to be two sides of the story, and I cant stop that. What I can stop is the ignorance of the other

Commented [cp13]: Connect this to your argument

side. Without this inquiry, I would have never known how much we, as educators, can learn from
these tests. Even though we cannot directly change the content, we know of the content that is
necessary to succeed in our society, and how we can further engage the next generations in order
to strive and prosper.

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Commented [cp15]: I liked your paper, I feel like it is easy
to read. I would suggest proof reading for grammar
mistakes. Also, I would say that you might want to try to
start out with a strong intro that lets the reader know that
it is an argument. In addition, go into detail with the
arguments.
Commented [cp16]:
Commented [cp17]: Make sure you effectively
summarize your paragraphs and tie everything together

Works Cited

Brown, G. T. L., & Hattie, J. A. (2012). The benefits of regular standardized assessment in
childhood education: Guiding improved instruction and learning. In S. Suggate & E.
Reese (Eds.) Contemporary educational debates in childhood education and development
(pp. 287-292). London: Routledge. Web. 30 Mar. 2015
Membership. Educational Leadership: Using Standards and Assessments: Why Standardized
Tests Dont Measure Eduational Quality. ASCD, 1 Mar. 1999. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
Standardized Tests ProCon.orf. ProConorg Headlines. ProCon, 7 July 2014. Wed. 12. Mar.
2015
"Standardized Test Definition." The Glossary of Education Reform. 15 May 2013. Web. 27 Mar.
2015.