Standardized testing is a major part in grade school and after for all students because it is how the schools gauge learning, where to improve and acceptance to programs. The education system needs to be revamped and adapted to today's students with less standardized testing and more interactive and new ways to test a student's knowledge to encourage learning. Since this is such a large part of schooling there is a lot of controversy that surrounds it.  Many say that standardized tests aren't fair and don't accurately test a student's knowledge and can be racist or favor a certain demographic over others. Standardized testing id a big part of middle and high school life and also a major factor to getting into college. Although many are good at standardized testing because of test taking skills and general knowledge, not everyone is. Many people seem to have the knowledge that they require but when it comes time to take the test they can't put the information on the paper in a way that accurately depicts their knowledge base. 

Extensive research has been done regarding the SAT and other similar standardized tests and looking at the results it is obvious that students from lower income consistently score lower and can't get into larger nice colleges such as schools like UNC Chapel (Soares). Not only does income level affect scores but also race. Racial patterns have been around and identified for many years and have gone unchanged. The upbringing and culture of students based on their race seems to have an affect on their language skills and scores on the English sections of the SAT. While the SAT creators are aware of these problems and the obvious subgroups within their scores they continue to ignore the data and believe that their test is fair and that the problem isn't coming from the test but the educational inequity that is so prevalent in todays society (Jaschick).

Many think that the scope of standardized testing is too narrow and that there are many aspects to a student and their knowledge that tests cant obtain such as "creativity ...  motivation ...  leadership" (Harris) and many others. Many believe that attributes such as these are just as important as testing their knowledge of books because they can be used in every day life and could help a student excel. Harris also says that standardized testing promotes shallow thinking and causes students to look for the quick and easy answer and can cause them to not question anything and just assume that they know everything that they need to just because they got the answer right. 

While many don't see the benefits of standardized testing there are ways that it can be helpful. They can allow the school and teachers to find out what subjects or topics are harder for students to learn so that they can focus on the material more or adjust it as needed. Many also say that tests should be easy because if you know the information then the answer should be apparent and that test results are just a matter of the student not putting in effort. Another defense for standardized tests is that they should only be about 5-10% of what the student knows, tests aren't all comprehensive and don't cover everything the student should know. They just gauge what the student knows of the curriculum and trusts- the teachers to do the rest (Walberg). Another argument is that tests place stress and pressure on students and teachers to get certain scores, which may be true, but real life is just as demanding there will always be stress and pressure that will need to be overcome (Walberg). 

One of the most important and major standardized tests is the SAT, which a majority of colleges require in their admissions process. While it is highly disputed the SAT does have many benefits. The SAT is one of the only completely objective measures of aptitude left, high school grades can only be counted for so much because there has been a large grade inflation in past years that makes it difficult for colleges to compare students from different areas. That and the fact that the SAT has been around for so long and that it is used so extensively proves that it is beneficial and effective on some level or it wouldn't have worked for as long as it has (Caperton). 

Since just disagreeing with the way that testing is done won't actually solve any problems many people have come up with what they believe to be possible solutions to standardized testing such as stealth assessments and multiple measures just to name a few (Kamenetz). Stealth assessments would give teachers and the government the same information by "invisible, integrated assessment[s]" (Kamenetz) by monitoring activity day to day through a digital program. They say that it could eventually get rid of tests altogether if programmed correctly. Another way would be to incorporate multiple and diverse types of testing by using emotional skills surveys, game based assessments, portfolio based assessments and inspections. These are just ideas and haven't been implemented anywhere because research and models haven't been effectively created but they could be solutions in the near future. 

Standardized testing doesn't necessarily need to be completely eradicated from the students education because it can be helpful and sometimes is a good way to gauge how students are learning and doing in class but it should be taken more lightly and not carry the weight that it does in colleges and acceptance to programs. If the importance of the SAT wasn't so critical in college acceptance and more focus was on the student's high school grades, which are a better representation of how a student will do in classes, then the bias wouldn't be a major factor and the worthy students would get accepted. According to Atkinson who has helped with admissions at UC they are moving towards making the SAT optional and basing acceptance more on the difficulties that students have faced, specialties they have and what students have done with opportunities to advance that they are given in high school. Many colleges are adapting their admission department to less aptitude tests like the SAT and more to curriculum based testing like UC is doing to be more fair and reduce any racial or socioeconomic bias that seems to be present. Achievement tests are not only fairer and well rounded but can be used to improve performance and set clear and defined goals for learning and clarify what is important for the students to learn. 

UC isn't the only college making this transition, according to McDermott, Holy Cross has become more diverse, more selective and promotes more rigorous and difficult course loads than previously when Holy Cross required the SAT. Their admissions office believes that by taking the power out of the test enables the students to work harder because their scores on one test don't hold that much power. It causes the students to strive to do better in classes over the years and allows the student to control what college they can get into because what really matters is how much effort and work they put in during high school. Not only does this method empower the students but also allowed Holy Cross to become more diverse and prevent ethnic bias in admissions that the SAT often causes. The three years after Holy Cross made this switch their graduating classes were all on average stronger and more well prepared to find a job and excel in life after college. 

This problem is one that isn't likely to be solved anytime soon because there are people who believe that the system in place now is working well and will fight the change while others believe that it is unfair and are trying to find new ways to educate the current youth. Both sides have very valid points and could argue their beliefs; it is just a matter of figuring out which way gives the best results and helps the youth learn as much as they can. Since this is such an important task it will take the cooperation of a lot of college officials and scholars to try and figure out the best way to educate and fairly assess students, whether that means completely eradicating standardized testing or just focusing less on aptitude tests like the SAT and moving more towards curriculum based testing to see how well students will do in college. 

