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Aashiana Patel

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

02 February 2019

Topic Proposal: Is standardized testing ruining schools?

Introduction/Overview

The topic that I decided to research was standardized testing. This topic is

interesting to me because it pertains to most students and significantly impacts the way

that students learn and think. Standardized testing has been a part of American education

for many years and is often used to measure student achievement. According to The

Washington Post, standardized testing has been mandated in all fifty states since the No

Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2002 (The Washington Post). A standardized test is a

test that has a specific answer for each question and is administered and scored in a

consistent manner. Standardized testing is often concentrated between February and May.

Standardized tests are given to measure the academic achievement of students because the

standardized format is believed to reduce the potential for bias, favoritism or subjective

evaluations. To take a closer look at standardized testing I will be doing my project on “why

standardized testing is not effective in ranking students and their academic achievements.”

While many people believe that standardized testing is an effective way to

measure/rank students a study published in 2001 by the Brookings Institution found that

“50-80% of year-over-year test score improvements were temporary and caused by

fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning.” (Michael Louden)
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This specific study shows that standardized tests do not improve learning comprehension

among students and following the No Child Left Behind Act the US dropped from 18th in

math on the Program for International Students (PISA) to 31st in 2009" (Michael Louden).

Despite all of this information regarding standardized tests, they are still commonly used

and believed to be beneficial in improving education.

To learn more about this topic I will be looking at websites as well as statistics

regarding standardized testing. The main websites that I used for research were ProCon

and Washington post. Both of these websites gave me good insight on why there is so much

debate surrounding this topic as well as statics about how standardized testing has affected

performance in schools. I also used the library databases to find information about how

standardized testing is impacting schools and teaching methods. All of these sources helped

me build on my initial thoughts regarding standardized tests and they also gave me new

information that I was not aware of before.

This topic is very highly debated and there are valid arguments on both sides. Those

in favor of standardized tests often argue that they are reliable and objective in measuring

student achievement. It is also stated that without standardized tests, tests would be

scored by individual schools and teachers which would produce favorable results. On the

other hand, opponents of standardized testing argue that they only measure a small

portion of what makes education important. Standardized tests cannot measure creativity,

curiosity, critical thinking, motivation, persistence and much more. There are many people

that are involved in this debate including parents, lawmakers, test makers, college
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admissions, teachers and students. This topic has been covered on websites/news channels

such as The Washington Post, USA Today and Huffington Post.

Initial Inquiry Question(s)

Are standardized tests beneficial for students? How would removing standardized

testing impact the education system? Is standardized testing an accurate measure of

intelligence? How has standardized testing impacted the way in which students learn? Does

standardized testing help colleges determine who is admitted? How does standardized

testing impact students with testing anxiety or other disabilities? Are standardized tests

fair or are they secretly biased? Should standardized tests include more sections that test

other subjects besides math, science, and English?

My Interest in this Topic

This subject is interesting because I am curious to learn more about how accurate

standardized tests are. This topic is also significant to me, as I am a college student and

frequently had to take tests that would impact my future. This topic is also significant to

me, as I had test anxiety when I was younger and can relate to others who are just bad test

takers. I already know that standardized testing is supposedly unbiased and used as an

accurate way to measure student achievement. I hope to learn about the overall

effectiveness of standardized tests and their impact on learning.

Next Steps
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To find more information on this topic I will be looking at more statistics on

standardized testing and their effectiveness. I will also be looking at reliable journals for

more information about both sides of the debate. Hopefully, these sources will give me

information that will allow me to get a better understanding of this topic. I hope to learn

about how people with disabilities are impacted by the use of standardized testing, as well

as overall how tests impact students learning abilities. I also want to examine how colleges

worked through their admission process before standardized testing was around.