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Cole Walton

Professor Reynolds

English Comp 2

21 March 2021

Standardized Testing Research and Why it is Ineffective

“You have sixty minutes to complete this section of the test…time beings now.” These

words spark fear for most students who have ever been forced to sit through any standardized

test. Standardized testing is a way for educators to acquire mass amounts of data about students'

knowledge in a short period of time. Through the last few decades, standardized testing has

become more popular with an American school systems. Standardized tests such as the ACT and

the SAT are used to determine whether students are considered “college-ready'' based on their

results. Children of all ages are being forced to take these tests, it is not only those in high school

settings. From an early age, the effects that these tests have on students are shown. While the

results are easy to obtain, the credibility of these testing agencies have been questioned. With

many discrepancies, it leaves one wondering, are standardized tests effective? What is the benefit

of the emphasis on pushing students to perform just for the statistics of a passing score?

Standardized tests are an ineffective measure of student performance because they are impartial

in their evaluation of students academic achievement and have inequities based within the

concept of standardized testing as a whole.

Standardized testing has been made more popular since the passage of the No Child Left

Behind Act in 2002. This put an emphasis on student performance in schools. In 2015, it was

then updated to require even more testing for students, with the first standardized tests being

given in the third grade (Pastor). Naturally, school systems needed a way to easily get data of
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how students were performing, so they started utilizing multiple choice tests in order to measure

if students were passing certain state- mandated standards. These tests have many opinions

surrounding them. Students despise them, politicians put high value in them, and teachers stress

over them. These tests are controversial due to the fact that they give students unrealistic time

limits and most teachers say the tests can not accurately show what a student has learned, since

there is more that goes into success than an A, B, C, or D multiple choice answer. Reform within

standardized testing has become more popular over the last few years because the methods of

giving these tests have not really changed much (Harris). Standardized tests are causing more

issues for students and teachers than politicians and the people in charge care to talk about. It is

affecting students and leaving school systems scrambling to try to solve problems of

underperforming teachers, which are not necessarily real issues. For example, in a Maryland

elementary school, a certain kindergarten teacher had been identified as underperforming.

Further looking into the issue, the principal noted that there were only two teachers total, and

each of them had all of the kids at different times throughout the day. So, there was really no way

to pinpoint the fact that one teacher was outperforming the other because they ‘shared’ all of the

students (Pastor). The multitude of opinions surrounding these tests continues to evolve and

people are pushing for even more changes to be made, because they are ineffective.

Standardized tests are rooted in bias and the playing field is not level for students from

varying school systems and/or economic backgrounds. There’s no way to make sure that every

student is provided with the same access to help outside of school, which makes it even more

unfair. Even young students who may still be learning English as a second language are

sometimes required to take these tests as well. Not to mention, students from lower-income

families also prove to be lower scorers on these tests. This is most likely due to the lack of
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resources and support that they receive from others outside of school. The association between

test scores and wealth has been around for decades now, and it shows that kids from wealthier

families are scoring higher on the tests (Hill). The higher scores seen in wealthier families

sometimes correlate with the fact that those students can get tutors or pay people to train them on

how to do better on these tests. The tutors can help them learn different techniques of how to

solve the problems which helps them score better (Hill). There is no valid reason that

standardized tests should give wealthier students such an advantage over students who come

from lower-income families. This creates even more bias within the testing system as a whole.

Figure 1: This chart was taken from an article entitled “The Richer You are The Better

You do”, the article was speaking in reference to the data that suggests that family income has a

direct correlation with standardized test scores

The bias based on economic factors is not one only seen on an individual level, but entire

school systems can also be categorized by them as well. If every student is given the same test
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with the same questions and the same answers, then it should not come as a surprise when certain

schools perform with higher scores. Not only finances, but other factors such as the materials

that the school is able to get as well as how much material each school is able to cover in any

given school year, and the quality of the school in general (Kokoszka). All of these details

combine and this is what ultimately leads to the unfairness of the outcomes. When certain

schools are receiving lower scores, politicians and government officials begin pushing for them

to make changes within staff and curriculum so that they can see students get higher scores on

tests. These districts become pawns that politicians then use as an example of how much they

have done for education reform, which is a whole different issue. The bias of state-mandated

tests is shown based on the scores received by varying groups of students based on their

economic background, and that of their respective school system as well.

As previously mentioned, another major flaw with this testing that makes it ineffective is

the fact that these tests are causing immeasurable amounts of stress for both teachers and

students, which makes it nearly impossible to measure how much the students have truly learned.

The method that the tests are administered in gives strict rules, time limits, and repercussions if

students fail to pass the test. These repercussions are not only for the students either, teachers can

be punished as well.They start to worry about their jobs being taken if their students don't

perform well on the tests. The stress from these tests stems from the importance and high regard

placed in the scores. Teachers start teaching to the test instead of teaching the material and then it

becomes even more difficult for students to learn, just because they want their kids to get a

respectable score. No teacher salary should be dependent upon their student’s scores, but in some

school systems, they are correlating the two (Finley). Not only this, but they use these results for

a multitude of other things as well, like firing staff or students' college decisions. From a
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teacher’s standpoint, the tests are used to assess which teachers are ‘lacking’ in their ability to

cover certain concepts which can lead to some teachers even being fired. From a student

standpoint, important decisions such as college admission may be on the line (Meador). These

factors aid in the rising stress levels associated with standardized tests.

Standardized testing leads to standardized teaching. Just as no student learns the exact

same, no two teachers can teach the exact same. This also reflects the theory that the scores are

not an effective way to tell student achievement. It’s hard to measure student success because

some students may fully know the information but then face testing anxiety which causes them

to do worse than expected (Meador). Both teachers and students can suffer from testing anxiety,

and it is a real thing. They feel the pressure placed on them and it causes them to actually do

worse than what they actually know. The lower performing students and districts spend hours

that could be spent on curriculum and they change it so they can work on test preparation. The

practices like these are what turn students off of creative thinking and on to robotic thinking. The

students stop trying to solve complex problems and they start forcing themselves to put their

knowledge in a bubble, similar to one that they would fill in on any standardized test. It takes

their level of thinking back down to a simple status instead of encouraging them to think

complexly. The idea of repeating the same process over and over is not beneficial (Kokoszka).

The major issue with this process is that students lose true learning value. Oftentimes, they will

learn standards in class that make sense to them and can be applied to everyday life, but teachers

will teach to the test instead of teaching for concept mastery. This causes a disconnect because

the students are essentially learning two different methods of answering real-life questions: the

productive way and the standardized way.

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Standardized tests rob students of countless hours of learning time throughout their whole

grade-school career. Students have to pass a certain number of tests before they can graduate; the

time it takes to both take and administer these tests wastes time for both students and the

teachers. This also takes away from their ability to learn social skills, some of which can’t

necessarily be taught with lesson plans. Students take “... an average of 112 standardized tests

between pre-K and grade 12...” (Berwick) and most times the results are made public for

everyone to see. These tests would be less of a problem and they would be more successful if

they were made by teachers, with standards that the teachers believe fit with the age of the

students. But, instead, they are gauged to state standards and most teachers would say there is

barely any correlation between most of those standards and what a student really needs to know.

‘Standardized teaching’ is something that does not promote creative thinking and keeps the

students limited in their ability to grow as learners (Meador). Across the country, there are many

classes that are taken out of schools just for the sole purpose of fitting in more time for test prep.

Classes that may have been arts based or electives may now not be offered. Classes such as these

have been taken out of offerings just for the purpose of making time for test prep classes

(Finley). Changes like this cause students to lose their creativity and display that arts and

extracurriculars have less importance to the school system when compared to test prep. As a

whole, standardized tests reward students for basic thinking instead of encouraging them to think

deeper about solutions to problems.

Standardized tests are too generalized and provide a “cookie cutter” path for all students

to follow. Based on several different factors, there is no way that one test is able to cater to every

student and judge them accurately, which leads to improper and ineffective results. For some,

this means being forced to take tests despite certain mental disabilities. In one case, two
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Colorado students with disabilities were still forced to take the tests despite it putting them in

physical pain due to their health problems (Finley). The makers of these tests fail to realize that

not every student can have the same thought process to answer these questions. There’s too many

variables that go into the day of the test, and teachers can not ever truly anticipate which factors

could affect their students the most on test day (Pastor). Even the smallest things like gender

have proven to be inequities for these tests. Studies have shown that girls tend to do better than

boys in subjects such as Reading and vise versa for Math (Pastor). The entire formatting of these

tests is unfair and skews results. For example, if a student was learning English as a second

language, why should their lesser reading score be held against them or their teacher? This was

the case for Salvador Bustamante, who was forced to take the test in an unfamiliar language that

he was still learning (Finley).These tests are not accurate in their display of knowledge on

students behalf. No amount of growth can be truly measured with fill-in the blank answers.

Students can not be accurately assessed by these tests because they are far too generalized.

Some would argue that standardized testing is the easiest and most effective way to get

results, but this is a faulty ideology because there are a multitude of alternative testing options

such as hands on projects and competency based assessments. Even though quick results can be

obtained, they are not telling of any particular trends. The standards that they are trying to

measure can not be found with these types of tests (Harris). Teachers know that using

standardized test results to change teaching practices can be questionable, because it sacrifices

practices already in place and risks change in their routine. Most administrators would also

agree that they The issue with using “scientific” tests to assess students is that kids should not be

forced to try and learn a certain way, let alone test a certain way. This creates problems in every

step of the process.

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There are many other alternatives to the timed, multiple-choice tests that we see today.

These new methods are proving to be even more effective than standardized tests ever were.

“Over the past decade and a half, educators have been moving away from traditional

testing—particularly multiple choice tests—and turning to hands-on projects and

competency-based assessments that focus on goals such as critical thinking and mastery rather

than rote memorization” (Berwick). Especially in younger grades, there is barely a point in

attempting to draw conclusions based on scores of children who may have had an adult read

them a question and give them answer choices. If they are not at a level at which they can show

basic understanding of the format, then the tests should not be used for them. If teachers were

able to make their own assessments that focused on recall and retention instead of memorization,

students would score better and prove to know more (Berwick). Allowing teachers to be creative

with this process would also aid in teacher involvement and support of it as well. In reality, no

teacher enjoys sitting for hours while proctoring these tests. But, if they were more invested in a

possible replacement to these tests, the entire process would be viewed in a better light. Things

like portfolios and projects could be used to evaluate and assess student creativity and

comprehension as well (Engleman). If reform occurs, it needs to make the entire testing process

more personal for the students, so they actually care about showing what they have learned.

Though some dispute changes for the standardized testing system, they fail to realize that there

are better alternatives that could be administered which are being tested with successful

outcomes.

Standardized testing is an inherently flawed and biased system; the results derived from

these tests are not telling of students’ true success, and there is no way that districts and

politicians can completely rely on them. Even though massive corporations such as the ACT and
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SAT benefit and claim to help students reach their full potential, the systems are flawed and the

playing field is not level. From third graders all the way up to seniors in high school, these state

tests have not once been accredited by students for helping them reach their dream or their true

success in life. Tests such as these have no place to hold as high of a regard as they do, because

they are biased. Students from low-income homes are doing worse than those who are better off,

and entire school systems can be placed in the same figurative box. Politicians are using

financially weak communities as pawns in their political agenda, claiming to help students but

doing nothing of the sort.

With subjects like mental health and suicide on the rise, it needs to be a topic of

conversation how much added stress comes from these tests. For students who are anxious to

fail, to teachers who are anxious to lose their job, all the way to principals who just want their

school to “look good” in the eyes of the state. Everyone is stressed about them. These tests are

doing damage to students’ mental health and causing many to develop test anxiety from a very

young age. The tests themselves are far too generalized to get successful results; the emphasis we

place on a single number of a score should raise questions about where priorities are with the

public education system. Standardized tests are rooted in bias and cause high levels of anxiety

and stress for everyone involved in the process of both taking and administering them; these tests

are not fair, not formatted inclusively, and give students too strict of time restrictions in order for

them to do well. No student learns the same, and therefore there is no way for a testmaker to put

out an assessment that can accurately display their true knowledge, let alone other skills learned

in school settings as well, such as social skills and how to express their emotions in public

settings.
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Standardized testing is not an effective way to measure students' learning abilities

because the system that these tests are based in is fundamentally flawed and built on bias and

inequality, which leads to unnecessary stress and anxiety for both students and teachers and

further pushes the idea that they are inconsistent, ineffective, and should not be trusted.

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

Engleman, Marissa. “Standardized Testing Is Ineffective.” The Coos Bay World, 19 Mar. 2018,

theworldlink.com/opinion/letters/standardized-testing-is-ineffective/article_6cf44396-57

6-5cd1-b04b-74618891930d.html

Finley, Todd, director. "Listen: The Movie" Challenges the Culture of Standardized Testing.

Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 15 Oct. 2013,

www.edutopia.org/blog/listen-movie-challenges-standardized-testing-todd-finley

Harris, Phillip. “Standardized Tests Do Not Effectively Measure Student Achievement.”

Standardized Testing, 2012,

www.humbleisd.net/cms/lib/TX01001414/Centricity/Domain/5174/Testing%20-%20Aga

inst.pdf.
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Hill, Catey. “10 Things SAT Scores Won't Tell You.” MarketWatch, MarketWatch, 24 Feb. 2015,

www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-the-sat-wont-tell-you-2014-05-02.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-the-sat-wont-tell-you-2014-05-02

Kokoszka, Brittany. “Standardized Tests Prove to Be Ineffective.” Villanovan (Villanova

University), 14 Apr. 2017,

www.villanovan.com/opinion/standardized-tests-prove-to-be-ineffective/article_50c5632

6-732c-58dc-ba66-5dc239327cab.html

Meador, Derrick. “What You Need to Know About Standardized Testing.” ThoughtCo,

www.thoughtco.com/examining-the-pros-and-cons-of-standardized-testing-3194596.

https://www.thoughtco.com/examining-the-pros-and-cons-of-standardized-testing-3194596

Pastor, Margaret. “Why Standardized Tests Aren't Working for Teachers or Students (Opinion).”

Education Week, Education Week, 29 Apr. 2020,

www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-why-standardized-tests-arent-working-for-te

achers-or-students/2019/06