There are two words every student in school fears, teachers dread, and legislators praise: standardized testing. Multiple times each school year, students across the country are required to participate in federal and state mandated tests that attempt to gauge student knowledge and teacher ability. They have been a highly-debated topic in education, affecting students as young as pre-Kindergarten up to high schoolers. The recent controversy surrounding the issue is rooted in how these tests have changed schools from environments of learning to prioritizing test preparation centered lessons. Students, quite frankly, are overwhelmed by the testing that takes place, are beat down, and worn out because they can’t catch a break between one test and another. The nationwide standardized tests, which are meant to make sure students are on track and keep schools accountable, have led to misuse of scores and a misrepresentation of students and teachers.  Standardized tests today are not a sufficient measure of a successful student; rather they are unnecessary in number, without reason, do not give an accurate depiction  of the students in our schools, and do not prepare students to be actively involved outside the school system

Standardized tests in the United States originate as far back as the mid-1800s. Formal written tests replaced oral exams in the educational testing system as schools shifted from educating the wealthy, elite people to educating people with lower social status. Testing programs and standards became more common as testing became more regimented and routine as part of measuring student progress. Over the years, standardized tests have become more developed, mandated, and specific as policies have been adapted to make sure students are meeting set requirements and levels of performance. With the implementation of No Child Left Behind in 2002, state-mandated standardized testing expanded, which, in turn, created more testing throughout the school year for students. The current era of high-stakes testing was brought in through No Child Left Behind. The law, signed by President George W. Bush, requires states to give yearly math and reading tests to third through eighth grade and places punishments for schools who don’t make adequate yearly progress. The major focus placed on testing through No Child Left Behind faced criticism since its implementation. . 

With increased attention to standardized testing, classroom culture has shifted. Though testing has been a part of the education system for many years, it hasn’t always taken over class instruction. Many lessons in schools today are focused on objectives that students need to know for testing or test preparation exercises. When this occurs, student creativity and innovation is shut off, causing a major problem in schools across the country. Schools lose the ability to engage their students when their assignments only serve the purpose of getting students ready for required examinations.

In her TED Talk, Nikki Adeli, a Philadelphia high school junior, discusses a program at the Science Leadership Academy where she is a student. 10th and 11th grade students are given the opportunity to go anywhere in the city and interact with their community through internships or volunteering. For example, Adeli partners with Penn Medicine by developing a “software to ease the outpatient process in hospitals” (TEDx Talks 11). Her classmate Naomi is a student columnist whose “writing pushes for equitable public schools” (TEDx Talks 11) and another, Wynn, assists in a public workshop that builds playgrounds and benches. She includes this in her speech, which argues against standardized testing, because it shows the positive impact students made on their community, without the use of a pencil and a Scantron. Programs like these open students to the world around them and engage them with  their passions. Without the extreme amounts of tests in schools, there are more opportunities, such as Adeli’s, for students to be active citizens. That is one thing that standardized tests cannot do.

The sheer number of standardized tests that students take in one school year alone reveals yet another fault within the school testing system. According to a report by the Center for American Progress, students in grades 3-8 take an average of 10 tests throughout the school year, with students in grades 6-8 in the Jefferson County school district in Kentucky taking up to 20 tests (Lazarin 11). Some students even take multiple tests for a course, such as an Advanced Placement, end-of-course, and final exam all assessing the same information. Districts and states assign students to take these tests, but they lack complete, accurate evidence that added testing time equates to greater student accomplishment. What schools end up with are students who feel beaten up by a system that claims to do whatever they can to help them succeed. Standardized tests do not necessarily equal achievement, success, and student knowledge. Federal and state governments see the list of numbers on a paper and determine if a student is advanced or needs extra attention. They continue to pile on test after test, without meeting the needs of each student. 

There are some people in education administration, however, who also see the problems involved with the large amount of standardized testing and believe they are creating unresolved problems in schools. Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan stated, “testing issues today are sucking the oxygen out of the room in a lot of schools” (Lazarin 11). Students and teachers aren’t able to feel comfortable in their classrooms because of testing. For many students, the enjoyment of coming to school and learning new things is lost because they see that the school only wants them to do well on a test. Legislators need to understand that test after test will not produce the students that they ultimately want. If the goal of school is to give children the opportunity to gain knowledge and explore their interests, that is what should be the focus, not testing. Dawn Neely-Randall, an Ohio teacher for over 25 years, discussed what occurred in her classroom when her days were filled with her students learning. She stated, “In the beginning, we were doing all of these great projects and they were fluent readers and writers…and then all of a sudden, I had to stop everything to get them ready for a test” (Mulholland 11). When her students were not taking tests, they were engaged learners. As Neely-Randall said, students were fluent, which is a desirable quality for students to have. They were interested in what they were doing in school before the testing came around. Rather than stopping everything for tests, teachers should continue their projects and assignments that allow students to explore new ideas and think creatively. By preparing students for a test, they are taught that every question in life has one correct answer. To switch the focus away from testing, schools need to turn in the direction of creative projects and assignments with open-ended questions that allow students to document their own thoughts and ideas. 

Added tests in schools equate to added costs, which takes federal funds and dumps them into the testing system, when they could be used in a more productive manner. Rather than provide students with supplies and better benefits for teachers, the government spends more federal money on standardized tests each year. Additionally, “public schools currently administer standardized tests as a prerequisite for reviving federal funding” (Issitt 11). Instead of the federal government providing schools with materials and teachers with higher pay rates, they require schools to give students more tests to determine how much money to allocate. Test scores alone do not determine the schools with the greatest need for government assistance, making standardized testing an ineffective use of their funds. 

When legislatures assign these tests, they do not realize or understand the physical and mental detriment  that comes along with it for students. Shaking, upset stomach, and sweaty palms are all common side-effects that affect many students across the country on test day. They become nervous because they feel so much rides on one score. Some students even get physically ill from thinking that a low score will have a longstanding negative impact in their education. An expectation has been set by schools, state, and federal governments to do well and outperform other students because they want to remain competitive on a global scale. Rather than prioritize the actual education of students, they place greater importance on testing. Neely-Randall described an incident when her fifth-grade students took about eight hours of testing in a single week after taking new Common Core mandated tests on top of Ohio Achievement Tests. The stress of test-taking got to one of her students and she broke down in the middle of her exam. Neely-Randall remarked, “She had a complete meltdown. And I could do nothing to help her. I couldn’t help her with the test. I could just let her take a little break then, but then she was going to run out of time, and she was watching the clock, she knew” (Mullholland 11). Testing completely overwhelmed this student, to the point where she physically broke down and could not handle the situation. Incidences like these are happening far too often across the country and they need to be stopped. States are still administering more tests, even though students are required to take others as well. At what moment will they realize enough is enough? How far will we go and how bad will it get before something productive occurs to better the testing system for our students? 

Through the current testing situation, students aren’t the only ones affected by their scores. Student performance on standardized tests represents a large basis for  assessing teachers and how well they taught required material to their students. This misuse of standardized testing scores is an inaccurate measure of evaluating teachers, who were not even involved in the production of the tests themselves. Federal and state governments see results and are lead to believe that those numbers show how well teachers instruct students. Rather than strengthening teaching and learning, using scores to determine teacher capabilities in the classroom does more harm than good. These inadequate tests are narrow indicators of student learning, leading to flawed evaluations of actual teacher qualification. These tests do not  really measure how well teachers are teaching the information because they neglect out-of-school factors that are no within the teacher’s control, such as student’s home lives. For example, one student in class may have wealthy parents who can pay for tutoring and extra help for them to do well on tests. Another student may not have the same opportunities provided to them, resulting in lower test scores. These situations are not something that should determine how successful a teacher is at his or her job. With added testing each year, evaluating teachers through test scores continues to increase. A 2015 article by the Washington Post discusses  how the Race to the Top program and No Child Left Behind has contributed to this phenomenon. In order for all teachers to be assessed on the same basis, “states added tests in social studies, science, languages-even physical education-to have scores they could use to evaluate teachers” (Layton 11). The reasoning behind giving tests in other subjects wasn’t to determine student proficiency, but to measure if teachers are teaching how they should. They use students to classify professional educators as able to sufficiently teach or not. The more that standardized tests are a part of the education system, the longer the misuse of scores for teachers and students will remain in our schools. 

Standardized tests continue to miss the mark in determining an authentic portrayal of students across the nation. A test will not tell the government the improvement a student made over the course of the school year or what they personally struggled with and how they overcame it,. A standardized test will provide nothing more than data, which is  commonly misapplied. They are unable to understand each unique student because they place each student on the same level. Craig Mertler, Associate Education Professor at Arizona State University, added to the argument in his book Interpreting Standardized Test Scores: Strategies for Data-Driven Instructional Decision Making. Mertler stated, “Human characteristics, motivation, behavior, attitudes, interests, values, and learning styles are just simply too complex to be measured by one test. They (educators) believe that these factors should be assessed regularly by schools (a point with which I would not disagree)” (Mertler 11). Testing cannot measure individuality of students, what drives them to succeed, and what experiences they brought to the classroom each day. Rather than using a test, administrators, and even legislators, should spend time inside the brick-and-mortar buildings spread across the country. Though they will never get to the level of relationship between student and teacher, they can better gauge what students truly need, and recognize what is lacking, in our schools. 

Students and teachers aren’t the only ones in opposition to standardized testing; growing animosity among parents toward tests has fueled the use of the opt-out movement. By participating in this movement, parents refuse to let their children take government-mandated examinations. As testing across the country has increased, so have the number of opt-out supporters. Many parents believe standardized tests are harming their children and refusing to let them take these tests is the best way to show that they don’t agree with how their children are being educated. Long Island mom Maribel Padin-Canestro told TODAY, “I will not let my children go anywhere near any test” (Pawlowski 11). This shows just how standardized tests have revamped education in a negative way. People are fearful that students in schools aren’t truly learning and growing, but rather getting ready for tests during instruction. 

Though opposition to standardized tests seems to be the common perspective, there are those who are proponents of the testing movement, most commonly those in education with higher titles than principal. District administrations and departments of education generally are the biggest supporters of standardized testing, though there are others as well. They view tests as an important measure of student growth, learning, and development in the classroom. By using standards nationwide, the government can set students on an equal playing field, allowing for Title I schools to be tested the same as non-Title I schools. In an opinion article posted to The Washington Post, Norman R. Augustine discussed the problems with anti-testing movements and the positive aspects of pro-testing. He argued that in the current world, students need assessments to achieve a high level of academic standard. Augustine stated, “Members of this burgeoning anti-test movement fail to grasp testing’s valuable role in motivating and guiding students and teachers. Preparing young Americans for success in the global economy will require our schools to improve, not abolish, academic standards” (Augustine 11). Augustine argues that testing in schools is essential for nationwide standards to be upheld in schools. Proponents of testing argue that in order to stay competitive globally, students need to be assessed regularly. 

No matter how standardized testing changes over time, they will continue to be part of assessing student knowledge on a national scale. As standards change and are implemented in our schools, new tests will be formed for students. Federal and state governments use these tests and their scores to determine where students are missing the mark, but ultimately do not use them in a proper manner. Through their outrageous number, misuse of scores, and inaccurate measurement of learning, standardized tests continue to leave an impression on schools, parents, and students. The joy of teaching and learning has been removed and replaced  by a Scantron sheet and a testing booklet. 

The solution to getting students to learn and be engaged in school is not by continuing to test them, but rather allowing them to creatively think and explore new ideas. Programs like Adeli’s where students are in their local communities  allow them to be involved in hands on activities, while still learning. They are able make an impact in the world around them, while still being students. They ultimately will pay more attention to activities that appeal to their interests. . Standardized tests continue to take this aspect out of schools; one where students are fully interested  in what they are doing. True learning takes place, not when students are completing a test, but when they can critically think and use their creative minds independently. In order for students today to be successful in our democratic society, they need to be able to share their ideas and opinions, which ultimately is done in classrooms where students are not taking part in standardized tests. The testing movement has skewed our ideas of what education is and should be. To create successful, productive students, a classroom shift to more creative, hands-on learning needs to be implemented in each school across the nation. Rather than spend millions on testing, federal funding should go to schools directly to supply them with necessary materials and supplies for students to learn and engage in their passions. 
