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Ashley Duffy

Professor Johnson

English 1201

25 July 2021

Standardized Testing: Helpful or Harmful?

Most people remember the dread of walking into school and remembering that it is

standardized testing day. Knowing the long day ahead of filling in small bubbles and reading

long stories and solving difficult and wordy math problems. This feeling is familiar to most

students these days as these tests are usually taken at least once a year and sometimes several

times, each school year. Weeks of school hours have been dedicated to these tests, taking

practice tests form years past, completing pages of practice math problems and even learning

testing strategy. The teachers are stressed because this test will determine how well they have

done their jobs, and the students just wants the school day to go by faster to finally be done and

be able to move on from the test. The whole school is quiet because every student in school is

taking the dreaded test. This test will determine how well the teachers have done teaching

seeming useless test taking strategies and information that is created by the state curriculum.

These tests, whether the students know it or not, have been a part of almost every single school

day. Most of the information that is taught to students has the goal of helping students score

better on the standardized tests they will take each year. Standardized testing is used to determine

how much students learn and how well educators teach their students. This puts pressure on

teachers to make sure that their students can take these tests and score well rather than focusing

on long-term learning.
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Instead of teaching valuable information that students will need throughout their lives and

making sure the information is retained, teachers are forced to teach students how to take tests

and retain information just long enough to get a high score for themselves, their teachers and the

school district. Teachers have these standardized tests hanging over their heads all years long,

pressured by the school district and the state to get their students to score well. This forces the

teachers to dedicate many class days to preparing each student to take a test that will measure

their job performance and students learning ability. What these tests do not take into account is

that each student is different. A single test cannot possibly measure the knowledge of every

student in the country accurately. Some believe that these standardized tests are not an accurate

representation of students’ knowledge because every student is different.

Every child learns different and has different needs when it comes to learning, there are

many different types of learning such as, visual, auditory, reading and writing and kinesthetic,

because there are so many different ways students learn, there is not one way to accurately

evaluate students learning abilities. With large class sizes as a standard in schools in the United

States, many times some students are left confused and unable to understand the large amount of

information that is being presented to them on a daily basis. Visual learners best process

information with the use of charts, graphs and diagrams (“4 Different Learning Styles”).

Auditory learners process information most effectively when they can hear the information aloud

(“4 Different Learning Styles”). Reading and writing learners learn most successfully when they

are able to take notes to read and recall later (“4 Different Learning Styles”). Lastly, Kinesthetic

learners process information best when they have hands-on activity to learn information from (“4

Different Learning Styles”). Standardized testing does not take into account that every student is

different and has a different way of learning and processing information. The way that each
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student learns should be taken into account when deciding how to measure the amount of

information that students have learned and how much educators have taught their students. Some

students retain information better than others, but every student has different situations that could

affect their education. For example, many students do not have access to books or other

resources at home, are hungry, afraid of violence in their communities, have uneducated parents

and a variety of other circumstances that could greatly affect their education and ability to score

well on standardized tests (“Teachers Take”). These students might be at a major disadvantage in

comparison to students that are more fortunate in these areas (“Teachers Take”). Students that

come from lower class families are more likely to live in lower-class neighborhoods and attend

schools that have students in similar situations (Mayers). This can cause these schools to score

lower than schools that students in the upper classes attend (Mayers). Factors like these can

greatly affect the scores from standardized testing of these students.

Standardized testing has become a tool that the United States school system relies

on as a way to measure the effectiveness of teachers and school district improvement (“Teachers

Take”). This major change has taken place mostly in the last twenty years however, the change

began in the 1970’s. Many teachers have begun to focus more on hand-on-projects rather than

multiple choice testing when it comes to assessing their students’ knowledge in more recent

years (Berwick). Research has concluded that this gets students to think critically and master the

information rather than only memorize the information (“Teachers Take”). Most teachers can

agree that students are given too many standardized tests (Berwick). The reliance of standardized

testing has led to a declining number of students in minority groups that are able to graduate high

school and continue onto higher education (“Teachers Take”). Many policy makers have become

aware of this and are becoming increasingly frustrated with the amount of these students
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included in minority groups that are underprepared to attend college (“Teachers Take”). The

graph below shows the percentage of students that completed college six years after graduating

from high school. In schools with less students included in minority groups, there was a higher

percentage of students that completed college. In schools with a higher number of students

included in minority groups, there were less students that completed college after six years.

Many high schools in the United States require graduating seniors to take exit-exams for several

subjects including English, Math and Social Studies before being able to graduate from high

school (Hout). Research has found that the use of exit-exams had decreased the number of

students who are able to graduate by two percentage points (Hout). This same research showed

that exit-exams do not contribute to student’s education (Hout).

This graph shows that less students in minority groups are able to graduate high school. This is

partly due to the reliance on standardized testing in the United States.

In the 1970’s and through the 1990’s, the “accountability movement” became the

way of measuring teacher’s ability to teach students and also the overall improvement in each

school (“Teachers Take”). The “accountability movement” was made into a law called the No
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Student Left Behind Act, enacted by Congress in hopes to close the achievement gap (Mayers).

The No Child Left Behind act was signed on January 8, 2002, by President George Bush

(Mayers). This act was updated in 2015 and renamed the Every Student Succeeds Act (Berwick).

The No Child Left Behind Act and Every Student Succeeds Act requires students to take

standardized tests calibrated to their states standards (Berwick). Each state has slightly different

standards when it come to these standardized tests. The research on the No Child Left Behind

Act did not show that it helped students learn information (“The Future of No Child Left

Behind”). From 2003 to 2007 the improvement in 4th grade reading scores only went up three

points, whereas from 2000 to 2002 the scores went up 10 points before the No Child Left Behind

Act was started, proving that standardized tests didn’t help students learn (“The Future of No

Child Left Behind”). The scores of standardized tests are used not only to measure students

learning and teacher’s ability to educate students, but also to create a state report as a way to

track school district progress (Mayers). The results of the report are used to determine whether

the school district has failed or passed in regard to the standards of each state. If a school district

fails, the community must be notified along with the parents of students attending the school, this

gives parents the choice to send their child to a passing school district (Mayers). There has not

been evidence to support that programs such as the No Child Left behind Act or the Every

Student Succeeds Act help students learn, instead test-taking and prep has become the new

curriculum in schools across the country.

Between pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, students take an average of one-

hundred and twelve standardized tests (Berwick). Many educators believe giving students so

many standardized takes away from learning (Berwick). Math and English standardized tests are

given to students every year. Standardized tests in science are given three times between third
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grade and twelfth grade (Mayers). Since standardized tests are given frequently to students, test

prep takes away from assessments that teachers use to advance learning in students (“Teachers

Take”). The graph below shows the number of hours students spend taking standardized tests in

each grade level from Pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade. From grades three through

eleven, at least twenty hours a year are spent on taking standardized tests alone. This does not

include the hours per year on test prep. This shows that there is a significant amount of time

teachers are unable to teach their students due to standardized testing. Instead of using

assignments to help students learn important information, instructional time is consumed by test

prep for standardized testing because of how frequently standardized tests are given (“Teachers

Take”). The test prep curriculum that is now implemented into schools across the country from

elementary school through high school, has not been connected to real learning that helps

students in the long term (“Teachers Take”). Since so much class time is devoted to test prep, the

scores from standardized tests might not even reflect the amount of information that students

actually learned or the improvement from scores from past years (“Teachers Take”). Developing

teaching quality, empowerment, smaller class sizes, creating access to resources, and

implementing a creative learning experience are all ways that could help students, teachers, and

school districts achieve sustainable improvement (“Teachers Take”).

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This graph shows the number of hours that each grade level spends on taking

standardized tests

Standardized testing is used to evaluate students in grades Kindergarten through

Twelfth grade. In high school, students take standardized tests to get into college, the ACT and

SAT. These tests are used to evaluate how well a student is likely to preform while in college

(Strauss). Chicago Public School teachers stated that a large amount of time was spend preparing

high school students for the ACT. Around a month of school time on average is dedicated to

preparing students for the ACT (“Teachers Take”). The more that students were prepared for

tests such as the SAT and ACT, the lower their score were according to a survey given to

Chicago Public School teachers (“Teachers Take”). Studies have showed that students score

higher on standardized tests in the situation that they are able to relate the content to their own

lives and when the work is “intellectually demanding” (“Teachers Take”). Chicago Public

School teachers have also reported in a study that they are forced to eliminate the amount of

content that is taught to students in order to have enough time to teach testing strategy for the

ACT (“Teachers Take”). Standardized tests today still discriminate against less fortunate

students and those in minority groups. The unfairness in housing, employment, education and

health care are all factors that greatly contribute to the “achievement gap” (“Teachers Take”).

Within the last year since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, colleges have been forced

to reevaluate the need for high school students to submit heir ACT and SAT scores in order to be

considered for admission to the school (Strauss). Since all schools were forced to close in the

spring semester of the 2020 school year, the process of admissions for high school seniors as

well as high school juniors has been changed (Strauss). ACT tests were cancelled, and many

schools no longer required a standardized test score to be submitted along with a student’s
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application (Strauss). While this is a temporary change for some schools, other schools have

decided to continue this practice longer. Around 1,100 schools have made the ACT or SAT tests

an optional step in the application process (Strauss). Since many colleges give students credit for

performing well on advanced placement (AP) tests, shortened versions of these tests were given

to students to take at home as an alternative to the normal standardized testing process (Strauss).

Teachers are highly pressured to educate their students in order to perform well

on standardized tests, not only to get a high score but also for their own gain. Some states have

begun to offer incentives to educators if their students test scores improve from year to year. This

program has been named the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). The creation of this

program raises the question of if these incentives really improve students learning and how

teachers educate their students (Hout). As of 2007, there has been more than 180 schools in the

United States that have made use of the TAP program. One program has been studied from

Nashville Tennessee; this program has given teachers a range of bonuses from around five-

thousand dollars to fifteen thousand dollars. These bonuses were given to teachers that had

improvements in student test scores (Hout). Some research has been done to determine the

effectiveness of this program (Hout). The research shows that there was not a significant effect

on test scores measured by standardized testing (Hout). Schools that are not showing progress in

their students test scores are required to start to make major changes in order to prove that the

school is working to improve student test scores (Hout). This could include changing the

curriculum or offering tutoring to students (Hout). If student test scores still do not improve,

schools could be required to restructure the school district (Hout). This forces educators to teach

students how to score well on the tests rather than focusing on helping students learn and retain

information for the long term.

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Many of the standardized tests that teachers are required to give to their students are not

even created by educators. The No Child Left Behind Act is led by businesspeople that often

have no experience with educating students (“Teachers Take”). While teachers are in the

classroom every day and know very well what students know and what is unrealistic to require

students to know, these tests are often made by people that have never experienced teaching

students and have little to no experience with children at all. Many teachers believe that

standardized tests should have a main goal of helping students learn (Berwick). This could be

better achieved by letting educators create tests (Berwick). This approach to education is

sometimes referred to as the “business model” approach (“Teachers Take”). This model’s main

focus is data, including standardized test scores, if a teacher’s class standardized test scores are

low, they will most likely be fired (‘Teachers Take”). On the other side of things, the teachers

whose class has scored very high on standardized tests, will be rewarded (“Teachers Take”).

Another aspect of this “business model” approach is quick fixes, long term solutions to the

problems in the United States education system are not considered with this system, research is

also not taken into consideration when searching for a solution to these major problems facing

the United States education system (“Teachers Take”). Research has showed that some testing

can be useful to students and can help them learn, however the current way that standardized

tests are given and the way they are created is not a way in which is helpful to students

(Berwick). If tests were created with the goal of improving student learning, testing could be a

useful tool to evaluate students’ progress and teacher’s effectiveness of teaching students the

information. The types of tests that have been proven to be the most effective have been short

(Berwick). The content on these quick tests have been information that has been taught to the

students recently (Berwick). Giving students short tests or quizzes over information as the
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information is provided to students can help teachers to better understand what the students

know. These shorter tests or quizzes could also tell teachers what needs to be taught possibly in a

different way to help each student understand the content as it is being taught rather than waiting

until enough information has been given to students to make a large test. Smaller tests can help

students retrieve information that has been recently learned in order to better retain information

(Berwick). This type of testing is testing is extremely different from standardized tests that are

currently being given to students. Current standardized tests given are over several topics and

subjects that has been taught to students over the course of the entire school year. This type of

test has been proven to be ineffective in teaching students.

In conclusion, standardized testing is not an accurate way to measure students learning or

teacher’s ability to teach their students. The use of standardized testing has greatly affected the

way that teachers use their limited and valuable class time to teach their students. Students across

the country must learn differently because of the importance that standardized testing has to the

school system in the United States. The amount of class time that is completely dedicated to the

prep of students to take standardized testing, seems to be a waste of teachers and students time

because research shows that it does not contribute to learning and that it could be achieving the

opposite of the original intention of creating standardized testing. Standardized testing causes

unnecessary stress and pressure for teachers to prepare students for test taking strategy instead of

focusing on long term learning (“Teachers Take”). When educators are able to teach their

students creatively instead of with standardized methods, more long-term success if achieved.

With teachers, school districts and colleges questioning the effectiveness of standardized testing,

one day students may not have to experience the stress of taking standardized testing and can

focus on learning and retaining information that can be used to continue onto higher education or
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lead a successful life outside of school. If standardized testing was no longer required for

students across the country, there would be more time for real, meaningful and creative learning

to take place that could help students better understand and retain information. The hours of

school time that is dedicated to test prep and taking long standardized tests, could be dedicated to

helping students remember information long term, making school more meaningful for students

and teachers. The dread of walking into school to find out it is standardized testing day could be

a thing of the past.

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Works Cited

Berwick, Carly. “What Does the Research Say About Testing?” Edutopia, George Lucas

Educational Foundation, 25 Oct. 2019, www.edutopia.org/article/what-does-research-

say-about-testing.

Hout, Michael, et al. "Do high-stakes tests improve learning? Test-based incentives, which

reward or sanction schools, teachers, and students based on students' test scores, have

dominated US. Education policy for decades. But a recent study suggests that they should

be used with caution and carefully evaluated." Issues in Science and Technology, vol. 29,

no. 1, 2012, p. 33+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A306358477/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-

OVIC&xid=17330b69. Accessed 30 June 2021.

Mahnken, Kevin. 14 Charts That Changed the Way We Looked at America's Schools in 2019,

www.the74million.org/article/15-charts-that-made-us-think-differently-about-schools-in-

2019/.

Mayers, Camille M. "Public Law 107-110 No Child Left Behind act of 2001: support or threat to

education as a fundamental right?" Education, vol. 126, no. 3, 2006, p. 449+. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A145681737/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=d2a01cac. Accessed 7 July 2021.

Strauss, Valerie. "For the first time, major counseling group says it's time to reconsider

standardized testing in college admissions." Washington Post, 2 May 2020. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622576823/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=a0a53b8e. Accessed 30 June 2021.

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"Teachers Take an Ethical Stand Against Testing." Teachers and Ethics, edited by Noah

Berlatsky, Greenhaven Press, 2016. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010986218/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=b3613b26. Accessed 30 June 2021. Originally

published as "CTU Position Paper: Debunking the Myths of Standardized Testing,"

Ctunet.com.

“TESTING OVERLOAD?: New Study Finds U.S. Students Are Spending Time Taking

Redundant Tests.” Alliance For Excellent Education, all4ed.org/articles/testing-overload-

new-study-finds-u-s-students-are-spending-time-taking-redundant-tests/.

“4 Different Learning Styles You Should Know: The VARK Model.” KU SOE, 28 June 2021,

educationonline.ku.edu/community/4-different-learning-styles-to-know.