           Standardized testing is a system in which schools administer and give scores for tests in a consistent way. This form of testing involves administering and scoring these tests the same way in every school and classroom and then using this information to evaluate student performance and teacher accountability for the entire learning community. Standardized testing is not measuring how much a student is learning, but rather how they perform in relation to other schools or classes. If this standard test reveals a lack of performance, it may lead to the restructuring of those schools or even closure if the criteria determined by the standardized test is not met. Because these tests can have an effect on a teacher's salary, the instructor will often only concern the students with the subjects on the exam. While these tests have an impact on teachers, they have a far greater one on the students. Their future is highly dependent on the score they receive and in any attempt to receive the best grade possible, cheating becomes a viable option. These tests treat every student as if they have identical ways of learning and have the same intelligence level. Standardized tests are out of date and do not benefit the student's education. Taking standardized tests has negative effects on students because they do not prepare them for the application of real world skills, natural abilities are ignored, cheating often occurs due to the high stake the test results have, teachers only focus on the subjects on the exam, and the test does not value diversity, disregarding different thinking and learning styles.

According to Thomas Armstrong in "15 Reasons Why Standardized Tests are Worthless", standardized testing does not value diversity because there is no consideration of the different learning techniques that vary from student to student.  Many different students from a variety of backgrounds participate in these standardized exams, all of whom may have different methods of learning and understanding. These tests do not put any thought into these factors and treat each student as if they are the same. Thus, Armstrong argues that standardized tests do not add value for students but rather take away the diversity of learning and understanding only to make them become confined to one way of thinking and understanding. This practice greatly reduces the ability of students, thus making standardized testing a worthless practice in learning (Armstrong). It is therefore clear that standardized tests do not accurately reflect the effort and knowledge of every student, which emphasizes the need for the elimination of these exams.

Standardized tests are also a source of pressure and stress on the part of both the learner and the teacher, where they are both judged on the levels of performance for these tests (Asperegn). The instructors are consequently put under stress because they will be judged according to the performance of the students. For instance, if a school's students do not perform in correlation with students in other schools in the local areas, there is the possibility of either restructuring the teaching methods the instructor uses or even terminating them. If a teacher knows one of their students performed poorly, they may pass their stress to the students creating an environment that is not conducive for learning (Walker). Walker asserts in "NEA Survey" that this condition may lead to bad teacher-student relationships, causing unnecessary stress and pressure in the classroom. The possible outcome is delinquency and students dropping out of school. If in any case the use of standardized test is used often, then the learner may be forced to develop a negative attitude towards the teacher.

The individuals involved in the fight against standardized testing are all members of the education system that agree these types of tests are hurting our schools and the students within them. However there are still those who oppose the idea that these tests negatively impact the students and believe these tests should stay exactly where the are. According to ProCon.org, many experts on the pro side of the argument claim that these tests are completely reliable and are an accurate measure of positive student achievement without the variability of human bias. This argument is used as one of the focal points for pro-standardized testing, however, based upon a 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution it was discovered that 50-80% of improvements observed from year to year were caused by simple fluctuations and had nothing to do with longstanding changes in learning (ProCon.org). There are pro-standardized testing individuals that claim these tests do not cause stress for the students required to take them. The US Department of Education stated, "Although testing may be stressful for some students, testing is a normal and expected way of assessing what students have learned." This argument is fully flawed throughout every aspect. This argument fighting for the notion that these tests do not cause stress for students is essentially stating that it does in fact cause stress but that stress is simply a part of the test taking process and the education system as a whole. Stress is extremely unhealthy and intentionally forcing young students to participate in an activity that directly has a negative impact on their health should not be tolerated. It can be so severe that on March 14, 2002 the Sacramento Bee stated that, "test-related jitters, especially among young students, are so common that the Stanford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it" (ProCon.org).

Standardized tests are also a source of discrimination to the underprivileged in our society. This is because these types of tests do not give special attention to students who need alternative methods of learning (Solley 313). When a student is marked as non-proficient, it is difficult for that student to view themselves as equal to the other students. Bob Sternberg, one of the top 100 psychologists of the 20th century, speaks on self fulfilling prophecy and standardized testing. Self fulfilling prophecy is a belief an individual has about themselves that causes itself to become true. During his Ted Talk he says, " I became test anxious and thats why I did poorly. I did poorly on the test and as a result my teacher thought I was stupid and since she thought I was stupid, I thought I was stupid and since I thought I was stupid, I did stupid work and she was happy I was doing stupid work because I was meeting her expectations, and I was happy she was happy."  When a student is receiving low test scores they are often labeled as stupid or unintelligent and when someone is given this title it becomes extremely difficult for them to feel confident in themselves and reach their full potential. Sternberg remembers being lucky he was assigned a teacher that saw past the reputation he had been labeled with and pushed to him to reach his highest potential, but unfortunately there are not enough teachers out there willing to go the extra mile (Sternberg TedTalk). Additionally, minority students often receive lower test scores than the middle class white students on standardized exams. When a student that is not proficient in the English language takes the test, it may not reveal the true extent of their abilities because they may not fully understand what they are reading. This implies that standardized testing does not take students who are underprivileged or whose primary language is not english into consideration (The National Council of Teachers of English).

Teacher-designed tests are used to determine a student's knowledge in a range of different subjects. These tests are beneficial to the students and the teachers for a number of reasons. When a student receives their tests, they are given the opportunity to view what questions were marked incorrectly and why. If the learner has any question or comment on the incorrect answers, they will still know why a certain answer is incorrect. Teacher-designed tests are equally beneficial to the educator (Issit and McMahon 98). Micah Issit and Maureen McMahon argue that when an educator is correcting his students exams, he will find a question or two that is incorrectly answered by many of the students in the classroom. This will allow the instructor to realize that the information needs to be covered again so that the students understand the subject better. All benefits attributed to the test are based on feedback in terms of the correctly answered and the incorrectly answered questions. However, standardized testing does not allow these benefits to be taken into account. Neither teachers nor students are able to see what questions were incorrect, making it impossible to see what subject areas the students need to improve upon. Therefore, standardized testing does not aid in the improvement of the education of students because students do not correct the mistakes they made answering questions after receiving their grades (Issit and McMahon 98).

Standardized testing does not take into account real world scenarios. This is because the standardized systems of testing are based upon the nature of responding to questions in a quiet environment under supervision, which reduces the communication skill of the learner (Walker). Very rarely in a real world situation will an individual not be able to ask for assistance or have a cell phone to look up certain questions they may have.  The standardized system generally states that these tests prepare students for succeeding in the real world, but the scenario in which the tests are being taken is entirely artificial and does little to prepare individuals for handling situations outside the classroom (Armstrong). Thus, standardized tests deny students the opportunity to be tested in any additional skills other than classroom work. 

A standardized test is a form of testing that is administered and scored in a consistent way. The disregard for natural abilities and different learning styles, being unequipped for the real world, the proneness to cheating, and teachers solely focusing on subjects on the exams are some strong examples of the negative effects standardized tests have on students. Diversity is ignored on these tests because no consideration goes into the many learning styles that differentiate amongst every student. Additionally, teachers and students feel pressure and stress due to these types of tests because they are  both evaluated on their performance. Furthermore, standardized tests discriminate against both minorities and the underprivileged by not taking different backgrounds and upbringings into consideration. These tests also do not help in enhancing students education because they the lack feedback that would allow students to learn the correct answers to their mistakes. Moreover, these tests do not prepare students for success outside of the classroom environment because of the artificial atmosphere. Despite the many negative effects standardized tests have, these exams will not be leaving the school system without many more individuals speaking out against them. The classroom is a place for students to learn as well as to grow, but standardized tests make it increasingly more difficult for students to prosper.

