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Kayla Creasy

Professor Maureen Mills

English 101-105

13 November 2021

The Negative Effects of Standardized Testing

Every four years presidential candidates speak out to potential voters regarding their

hopes and visions of what they plan to do if voted into office. Among these topics that gain the

attention of U.S. voters, the matter of education is prominent. Candidates present plans of

determination in making strives of bettering the American education experience for all. As a

result, Presidents in the past have worked to make progress in the realm by implementing

educational plans to accompany their agenda. Through these plans, policies and laws have set

procedures in schools, like the enforcement of standardized testing. However, though these plans

present hopeful realities, these implementations have not always held up to their promises. In

fact, a number of these plans had repercussions that have caused even more issues in the eyes of

many.

One of the most notable educational plans in American history is the No Child Left

Behind federal legislation, set by President George W. Bush in 2002. In High -Stakes Testing

Under the No Child Left Behind Act: How has it Impacted School Culture, the author RaShel

Tingey explains that the act substantially revised the proceedings of the earlier, Elementary and

Secondary Act of 1965. The enactment of the law “required states accepting federal funding to

measure and report on results in terms of standards and accountability” as a way to work towards

its goal of closing student achievement gaps (Janz). Through No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a
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push for standardized testing flooded public schools across the country. Standardized tests are

“​​exams politicians and state departments of education create to measure student performance and

ability (Smyth).” These tests require students of the same level to answer all the same questions

and the answers are all graded in an exact, predetermined way. Though these tests seem

innocuous, for years studies have shown standardized testing has negative effects on all

individuals within the field of education; students, teachers, administrators, and even school

counselors and therefore, should be eliminated.

Standardized testing is also commonly referred to as high stakes testing. It is a common

one of the many types of high stake testing as the term may also refer to any “mandated testing

of students at various points in their school careers; testing and evaluation of teachers; and

assessment of teaching methods, programs of study, curricula, and schools as a whole (Duffy).”

One prominent dilemma regarding the NCLB act and standardized testing is that it

requires teachers to use methods that address students and their understanding in a “one size fits

all” matter. However, the practice is not ideal for an ideal classroom that would allow for the

optimal learning experience for all students. This harmful technique that occurs, “eliminates the

opportunity for teachers to teach students higher-order thinking skills as it reduces teacher

creativity, innovative instruction, the use of varied teaching strategies for diverse students, and

teacher and student motivation (Smyth).”

Another major issue that occurs in repercussion of standardized testing is the idea of

educators teaching only to the test. This occurs because teachers focus extensively on the

outcomes and scores their students receive on such tests. The colloquial term, teaching to the

test, refers to the issue that students are solely being taught only what is needed to succeed within

standardized testing, instead of mastery learning; where students are taught the covered material
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but are also given the resources to extend the knowledge to broader/more complex ideas. The

dilemma that presents itself is that with increased emphasis on the testing content, “most

teaching time is devoted to preparing for the testing or doing the testing (Minarechová).” This is

incredibly harmful to both the teacher and student within the classroom setting. As also

explained in the scholarly journal, Negative Impacts of High-Stakes Testing, “if the teacher

spends a lot of school time preparing students for tests, the quality of teaching decreases. Other

subjects (which are not included in the testing, for example, art, physical education, social

studies and science) are simply marginalized… therefore, it promotes ways of teaching that are

often boring and neglectful of problems and issues concerned with race, class, gender, and

sexuality.”

Time is an important factor in working to achieve the best value of education. Despite its

importance, time has become limited in the classroom as a result of the heavy emphasis placed

on standardized tests. This has a first hand effect on student’s overall achievement and

understanding in terms of their classroom content. Instead of daily subjects given the same

allotted time and value: math, reading and literacy are focused heavily on while subjects like

social studies, science, art, and many more are pushed to the side. As described by Maureen

Duffy in No Child Left Behind: Values and Research Issues in High-Stakes Assessments,

“because time is a scarce resource in the classroom, it is a real loss for students when there is

little to no time for nurturing students’ appreciation for Earth, arts, self, and people like and

different from themselves, and for providing opportunities for critical thinking and decision

making.”

Standardized testing is also extremely biased. As explained by Michele Phillips in

Standardized Tests Aren't Like T-Shirts: One Size Doesn't Fit all, “these bias take place when the
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test scores are influenced by irrelevant characteristics of the testtaker, such as race, sex, family,

wealth, religion, and so forth. For the most part, standardized multiple choice tests are culturally

biased in favor of the culture toward which the test is directed—the mainstream White culture.”

This is a damaging effect that needs to be abandoned in the future of education and testing, as it

has much influence over student achievement. The unfairness of standardized tests does not go

unnoticed as studies have shown that “as it stands now, many non-English speakers are failing

the tests and being held back a grade. This is not due to their intellect or IQ. Many students are

doing poorly on our high stakes tests due to a lack of understanding of the complex English

language (Phillips).”

Lastly, standardized testing has proven to be detrimental to the mental healths of both

teachers and students. In terms of how teachers are affected, their classroom scores have major

impacts on how they are viewed in their career. It is explained that if teachers cannot prove that

they have met the mandate of building knowledge on basic skills and test content, they are

penalized (Duffy). This overall causes feelings of uncertainty, insecurity, anxiousness, and stress

that could be avoided if such emphasis wasn’t given to the outcomes of standardized tests. Also,

the creativity and uniqueness of individual teachers is diminished as the pressure to strictly cover

given standards by the end of the school year is relevant. For students, pressures also cause

feelings of anxiety in minority group students as a result of cultural biases in test content that is

drilled in many curricula (Tingey). Additionally, due to excessive attention given to testing from

the NCLB legislation, the fun is sucked out of learning. This strikes a student's engagement in

learning as in order for a child to want to learn, they need to be curious or inspired. As a result of

boredom, “students are not developing an appreciation for knowledge and learning (Duffy).”
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In conclusion, it is evident that the value of education in America is in the hands of those

who are not always the ones with expertise in the understanding of teaching methods and

educational psychology. This has proven to have lasting effects on student achievement in the

classroom as it is vulnerable to harmful conditions from high stake testing like biases, limited

time allotted, pressures, and unequal emphasis of subjects within a given curriculum.

Standardized tests continue to have a place in the realm of public education despite its harmful

repercussions. As we look to the future, it is important to give attention to the idea of providing a

space that allows all students to achieve lifelong learning. Therefore, in doing so, standardized

testing does not belong.

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Works Cited

Duffy, Maureen, et al. "No Child Left Behind: Values and Research Issues in High-Stakes

Assessments." Counseling and Values 53.1 (2008): 53-66. ProQuest. Web. 13 Nov. 2021.

Janz, Julia E. "High Stakes Testing: Students in Grades Four through Eight Report Effects of

Standardized Testing." Order No. 3465884 Capella University, 2011. Ann Arbor:

ProQuest. Web. 13 Nov. 2021.

Minarechová, Michaela. "Negative Impacts of High-Stakes Testing." Journal of Pedagogy 3.1

(2012): 82,n/a. ProQuest. Web. 13 Nov. 2021.

Phillips, Michele. "Standardized Tests Aren't Like T-Shirts: One Size Doesn't Fit all."

Multicultural Education 14.1 (2006): 52-5. ProQuest. Web. 13 Nov. 2021.

Smyth, Theoni Soublis. "Who is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind?" The Clearing House

81.3 (2008): 133-7. ProQuest. Web. 13 Nov. 2021.

Tingey, RaShel Anderson. "High -Stakes Testing Under the No Child Left Behind Act: How has

it Impacted School Culture?" Order No. 3401427 Brigham Young University, 2009. Ann

Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 13 Nov. 2021.