           Standardized testing is a system in which schools administer and give scores for tests in a constant 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 Standardized tests are out of date and do not benefit the student's education.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 (Armstrong). 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 (Armstrong). This practice greatly reduces the ability of students, thus making standardized testing a worthless practice in learning. 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 stress that students feel while taking a standardized test is one of the major contributing factors as to why students feel they need to cheat. The stress comes from their inner need to be successful, and it is that pressure that ultimately drives the student to act dishonestly. Many of the students that cheat feel they have no choice due to the constantly rising standards and importance these tests have. As these types of occurrences become more frequent, students will begin to gradually view it as normal and will eventually come to accept it (Lee). The individuals that cheat on these tests will go to extreme lengths to achieve the best grade they can. Hannah Lee writes, "An Educational Testing Service official remarked that in 2011, 150 students had been caught impersonating others, but that there was no real way to enforce identity in the test process while continuing to make the SAT accessible to all students" (Lee). Students should feel the main reason they are in school is to learn and be prepared for life outside of the classroom. Unfortunately, they are forced to take standardized tests on material that has no application to the real world. It is because of the impact the results have on their future educational and life careers that they will resort to anything in order to receive the highest mark possible, most commonly cheating. While cheating is not exclusive to standardized tests, it is these types of tests that cause an otherwise honest student to become a cheater.

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).

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 becomes true sole because of the belief itself. During his Ted Talk he rants on and 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 because she thought I was stupid, I thought that I was stupid and because 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" (Sternberg). 

Because Sternberg felt that he was unintelligent he followed the principle of self-fulfilling prophecy and his test scores suffered. When a student that is receiving low test scores is labeled as stupid or unintelligent it becomes extremely difficult for them to feel confident enough in themselves to reach their full potential. Sternberg recalls being lucky he was assigned a teacher that saw past his reputation and pushed him to be the academically renowned psychologist he is today (Sternberg TedTalk). Unfortunately there are not enough teachers out there willing to go the extra mile for their students and when teachers are unwilling to go the extra mile, they will mark their student as non-proficient, making it difficult for that student to view themselves as equal to the other students. The main basis for marking a student as non proficient is the score they receive on their standardized test (Jacobs, Declan, Jones, Zakarin). The impact these exams have on the subconscious minds of young learners can negatively effect their entire academic careers.  

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). 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 (Schlundt). 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. 

Standardized testing is a major source of income for many large corporations that continually earn major profits each year. These tests are essential to the success of the companies, but nearly all of the men and women that are in a place of authority have not taken a standardized test in decades. This would make it impossible for them to accurately gauge the effects these tests have on young students minds. These individuals are businessmen working for a standardized testing company, and like any other company, the main objective is to turn a profit and make money (Figueroa). Alyssa Figueroa writes, 

"One of the best ways a standardized testing corporation can make more money is by coming up with new standards, which is why it's not surprising that the Pearson Education corporation has played a role in crafting the new Common Core State Standards, a new set of standards set to be implemented in most states this coming school year" (Figueroa). 

When a school implements these new standards they will often receive more points from the Race to the Top program, a competitive government grant program designed to aid in the federal funding of many schools. When a school receives enough points to prove their students are prepared for the future they are rewarded, which then in turn inspires the school districts to administer more tests. As a result of these new policies, school districts had to find test providers to fulfill their needs, making corporations like Pearson Education very wealthy (Figueroa). While these companies are making money, they have blinded themselves to the damaging effects their tests have on the education system and everyone involved in it. The reason federal funding programs were created was to see an improvement in student achievement and teacher performance, however no research has been shown to prove this advancement (Parents Across America). This creates a question of whether the damaging business tactics corporations such as Pearson Education are using on the education system are responsible for the lack of development the school systems have been subject to.

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.

