Standardized testing is a major part in grade school and after for all students because it is how most schools gauge learning, where students and schools can improve and acceptance to college or special programs. The education system needs to be revamped and adapted to today's students learning styles 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 is 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. Since this is such a common complaint the education system needs to be refurbished with new teaching methods, new testing methods and different ways of determining acceptance to college programs to reduce the importance of standardized testing. 

Standardized testing is everywhere in grade schools and according to Harris is hindering students learning ability and not leaving room for teachers to actually teach. Not only does it hinder learning but it can also begin to breed bad habits in students and teachers such as cheating or taking performance enhancing drugs such as Adderall or Vyvanse to get good grades because they know that a lot rides on tests and that the score they receive could decide what school they get into or if they get to graduate from a program or receive a scholarship. Not only are they developing bad habits by doing this but students will often forget any information they learned just for the test and many of the study drugs students use aren't prescribed to them and could have detrimental effects to their health due to not being prescribed. Standardized tests also don't give feedback on how to perform better and often don't give scores back until months later which doesn't help students or teachers learn more or give them the opportunity to do better (Armstrong).

There is also a lot of controversy surrounding how certain demographic groups tend to do better on tests and how a student's socioeconomic status can affect scores. Cultural backgrounds, experiences and thinking styles are different for everyone and testing everyone like they are the same student that the testing companies have deemed the "normal" isn't fair and can cause students who are just as smart as any other to do poorly on the test. The tests and environments they are taken in aren't natural at all which further leads to poor scores and unrest. Being forced to sit down in the same spot and not talk to peers or use learning devices is not like the real world will be and isn't preparing students for what they are going to be doing for the rest of their lives (Armstrong). 

Standardized tests aren't created by geniuses so why should a test written by another run-of-the-mill mind be used to see if students will succeed or if they are smart enough to achieve their goals. Then because of some students doing well and others doing poorly it creates a gap in the classroom and labels students "good" or "bad" or "smart" or "stupid" which is beneficial to no one and could cause a student to not reach their full potential later on in life. Furthermore while students are taking these very time consuming tests they are missing out on valuable teaching time that is not made up or time interacting with their classmates and growing not only as a student but as friends and companions (Armstrong).

Along with those many problems standardized testing is too narrow and there are many aspects to a student and their knowledge that tests cant obtain such as "creativity ...  motivation ...  leadership" (Harris) along with many others. 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 in the future. Harris also believes 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 even though they may be missing key pieces of information. 

One of the most important and major standardized tests is the SAT, which almost all colleges require in their admissions process. The SAT has many benefits such as it 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). 

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 incomes 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 so does 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). This is a major problem that either needs to be fixed or the SAT as a whole should be thrown out and replaced with different methods for selection. 

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 still 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 more fair 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 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 better prepared to find a job and excel in life after college.

While standardized testing has many flaws there are ways that it can be helpful. They are objective and comparable which allows 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 and that 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 and there will always be stress and pressure that will need to be overcome (Walberg). Tests also help to keep schools, students and teachers accountable to the material and their jobs. Scores allow the government to see what schools may need interventions and help or if certain teachers aren't doing their job well. Sometimes schools must be shut down for any number of reasons and the scores from these tests can help the school district decide what school should be shutdown. Tests are the only objective results that government gets to help with these decisions and therefore are very important (Walberg). 

Since this is such a controversial topic 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.

While standardized testing is a part of education that needs to be adjusted it doesn't need to be completely eradicated. Just cutting out a few of the smaller tests and starting to implement new ways to assess students would be a good start. It will be a very long and difficult process due to the shear amount of people it will affect and the large change in school in school that it will entail. It will be hard to completely get rid of standardized tests because they are vital to the government and can provide very important and useful information but the combination of standardized testing and new ways of evaluation could be much more effective and lead to smarter students and more successful adults. 

This problem is one that most likely won't be solved quickly 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 will continue to 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 many 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. The education system will be changed eventually to keep pace with technology and developing students, its just a matter of how soon it is accepted and adapted to fit our schools.

