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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