Standardized Tests
Essay title: Standardized Tests
Standardized Tests
Many approaches are made to test the intelligence of today’s youth, and many are being
created for tomorrow’s youth. There are a number of ways in which a person’s knowledge can
be measured, but one method that is very popular throughout the United States is for students to
take standardized tests. Standardized tests are tests are designed to give a common measure of
students’ performance. Usually created by commercial test publishers, the tests are commonly
distributed to large numbers of students throughout the entire country. In result of these large
numbers, educators can easily compare each student’s results with the averages of the country.
These results are useful to educators because they inform how well school programs are
succeeding with the proper lessons. It also gives educators ideas about where students are on the
scale of their abilities and their skills. In the United States, standardized tests give a realistic
look at the youth of today and their abilities for the future.
First, there are many advantages to performing tests of these nature to a large amount of
children. One of the main reasons for these testing is to see if students retain the information
they are taught in schools, and whether or not the students are being taught the essentials.
Recognizing that schools are teaching everything they should could be very important for
students. If they are not taught enough, they could be unprepared for future school and teachings.
Another reason why students are tested is to see how each student compares to the other students.
If a student shows poor results on a test, help can be provided to reassure that the student is “up
to speed” with what they should know. This will help the amount of students that fall behind in
their work and slowly stop caring.
Although standardized tests are helpful to many students, many concerns are brought up about the accuracy of the results. Some say that in this day and age, the fixed curricula of the
standardized tests lose the type of education that matters most. Teachers still dedicate lots of
classroom time to help the students improve their scores on them. The teachers are not to blame
though because the students’ performance on tests are used to evaluate the entire school system.
Evaluation has become a ever growing part of our society. Everywhere you go you are being
evaluated. Students have been trying to achieve higher numeric ranking so they can place
themselves in the rest of the students in the United States.
Contrary to what most people think, alternatives to standardized testing are available for
use. One alternative is using student portfolios. This would keep a record of any information
that could be of use in the future. One might include a student’s grades throughout school, the
types of classes taken, and the information from the school such as discipline and ranking.
Another reason that standardized tests are used are to evaluate schools. Groups could be formed
to evaluate schools and lessons taught at schools.
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