As a student in a majority low-income and minority school, I gained first-hand experience with the effects of standardized testing on student performance, and the added effects when students concerned were struggling with the obstacles of economic and racial disadvantages. When monetary quantity directly correlates with educational quality, lower-income students fall prey to a cycle of American injustice with no way to get out. The divide between the 14.5 percent of Americans in poverty and the Americans who can afford a more quality education is widened by standardized testing. Students from lower economic or minority race backgrounds are given less fundamental resources than students from financially stable, white families, and yet the academic success and potential of each side is measured the same way. Passion for equal-opportunity education and a positive outlook for America are what drive the research for this project. Education is a necessary means for American stability, and when the rich are favored and the poor are cast out in the process of standardized testing in the public education system, we sacrifice personal and national growth and development. Through this research project, I will gain further personal insight into this issue, address a means of resolving it, and project the problem and solution for the sake of awareness. 

1. Rich students in America are more likely to succeed than poor students. More financially stable students are presented with more resources, and therefore are better equipped to succeed academically. Rich high school dropouts remain in the top at the same percentage that poor college grads remain at the bottom. 

2. The value at stake in this article is equal opportunity education in America. The author refers to this problem as an "educational arms race that's leaving many kids far, far behind." Rich students are still getting far ahead of poor students for the simple fact that they're rich and therefore afforded a better education, sparking a reevaluation of the "American dream."

3. Matt O'Brien is an author and journalist, famous for a book written on homelessness. He has won several awards for his work, furthering his credibility in the field of journalism and establishing himself as a well-informed reporter. His bias is obvious in the article, as he shows his displeasure in the economic divide in the American education system. 

1. The companies that create vital standardized exams are the same companies that create the textbooks that contain the answers, but low-income schools can't afford those textbooks. Standardized tests are not based on general knowledge, but rather on the knowledge of these specific textbooks. Students can know the answers with other textbooks, but cannot explain why they know them. 

2. The reporter values not only education, but specifically the education of her own son, which sparked her penning of the article. The article holds stake in equal opportunity education, and emphasizes on the root of the divide between rich and poor students being the companies that manufacture tests and textbooks. 

3. Meredith Broussard is an assistant professor at a journalism institute in New York City, where she teaches data journalism. She has been through the American education system, works in it, and currently has a son in it. This has led her to develop a bias in favor of students affected by the injustices of the system. 

1. Wealthier schools have more resources than poorer schools, and better equip students for success. The highest poverty school districts receive 10% less funding per student than those with lower poverty rates. These kinds of statistics show the widening gap between poorer and richer students and their academic achievement via standardized tests. 

2. This article values the side of the poorer students, and regards them as the main stakeholders in this problem. The interest here is leveling the playing field for low-income students and wealthier students, and why that isn't happening in America. 

3. Molly Knefel is biased for the poverty-stricken students affected by the inequalities that come with standardized testing. She's an after-school teacher, according to her Twitter biography, giving her firsthand experience with a variety of students and backgrounds and their academic performance, as well as how students prepare for standardized testing and what affects their achievement. 

It could be argued that too many factors play a role in the faultiness of standardized testing to place such significant blame on income and racial inequalities. A lot of statistical evidence for this specific divide will need to be presented in order to support the topic. All the sources I've found on the topic agree that a divide between poor and rich students exists, but they vary on the specific roots of that divide. These perspectives show more logical reasoning, rather than chalking it up to simple injustice in America, which alters the previous conclusions I was coming to. This also presents solutions to the problems, rather than presenting the issue as an inevitable and inescapable cycle. I may consider changing my question from "how" to "why," and explore the roots of this problem. 
