Every year over fifty million students throughout the country in grades K-12 take standardized tests that are meant to compare their knowledge and capabilities to every other student in the United States. Whether or not these tests are high stake, such as the ACT, or low stake, such as AZMerit tests, students are encouraged to do their best to truly show the knowledge they have acquired throughout their educational journey. But how many actually try on these tests? How useful are they to begin with? Do they really show who is superior in the classroom?
Every year United States students take an average of 8 to 10 standardized tests, but many do not benefit from or even pay attention during these exams. As many people know, these tests have become mere inconveniences to the general student, many of which guess a majority of their answers, sometimes because they don’t know the answer, and sometimes because they are too lazy to figure it out. The exams are standardized so that students all around the country can be judged on an even scale despite where they come from and where they are, but when many people do not even try, it throws off the comparisons between students greatly.
Despite the somewhat questionable statistics associated with standardized tests, there has been much debate on whether or not standardized tests are actually valid to test students. Many argue that the current standardized tests do not truly and accurately test whether an individual is ready for college, a job, or whatever else they decide to do. This has caused a nationwide movement to rid students of standardized testing as it costs taxpayers a lot of money and costs students and teachers much of their time.
Although these tests may function as data collectors well, they often fail in their primary purpose, to show students where they are compared to their peers. If a student struggles in math then they are told they are worth less and can not function on a level as compared to their peers. Standardized tests often cause one of two things to happen. Students that struggle can fall behind and never recover, losing motivation to continue their educational development, or, if a student does not choose to fall behind, they can be left stressing to unhealthy levels and rigorously competing to show that they are worthy of a college education as compared to their peers. Many areas do not get as good of an education as others. Standardized tests can show these students are behind the mean despite never getting a chance to show what they can do.
There are obvious pros and cons to standardized testing. It can provide good group data to focus tax money and education initiatives across the country to the areas that need it; but, they can also leave students behind, or with a lot of stress that can lead to unhealthy habits. These patterns can cause many to question whether or not standardized tests should remain, especially when attempting to distinguish an individual student from the rest. Whether or not standardized tests will remain is unclear, but the decisions and motivations behind the movement against them will not be silenced in the near future.