Ryan Isch

EDUC 250
Timothy Miller
December 8, 2015
Contemporary Article
Standardized Testing
Many people are aware of the standardized test and the ways that students might receive
the test. There are positives and negatives to this test and many people can spend hours arguing
over whether or not it is necessary or not. For someone to form an opinion, they must see the
effects and the ways that the standardized test may have both positives and negatives in the
classroom.
"All the experts are constantly reminding parents that infants develop on their own
timetables. The overall trajectory of growth and progress is more important than any particular
snapshot in time...Yet just a few years later, when kids enter school, we start to limit our
consideration of learning and development to a single hand-eye-brain circuit, forgetting the rest
of the body, mind, and soul." (Kamenetz 4). Many students grow up being told that they are
supposed to be creative and explore how best they learn. Once standardized testing comes into
play, there is much more emphasis on learning all of the things that would be deemed important
by the state. This could be a con or a positive depending on the person viewing this information.
In a recent interview, Andy Schmit, principal of Southern Wells Middle School said, Too
much emphasis is being placed on the standardized tests, people are spending too much time on a

test that other people are deciding is important for the students without even knowing the
students. People learn in different ways, and to rate everyone on the same scale is not fair for
anyone involved. Teachers then are forced to only teach certain things without being able to help
everyone reach their full potential.
One of the main things that people have against the test right now, is just the strict
standards that it holds everyone to. The inability for any flexibility and the difficulty of the test
puts pressure on students to perform on things that they are not prepared for, or are not able to
perform as well in test form. This adds pressure to the teachers to try and jam as much
information as they can about the test into their lessons, potentially bypassing other subjects that
may be important as well. (Ravitch)
The tests can be hard and very unforgiving, students who may have a great grasp on the
subject may find themselves unable to perform on the actual test. The test is designed in a way
that tries to fail the students to make sure they understand everything. This has negative affects
though, as many students may understand the actual concept, but the question is worded in such
a way with such rigid standards, that many intelligent students end up failing the standardized
test that they are taking. (Kamenetz).
Following the passage of NCLB on Jan. 8, 2002, annual state spending on standardized
tests rose from $423 million to almost $1.1 billion in 2008 (Pauline). With the passing of No
Child Left Behind, the amount of standardized testing went up by 160%. The decision to help all
of the students through NCLB, unfortunately became more about the state funding and can easily
become less about the students education. There then becomes such a focus on the value of the
education based on testing, that if a school district cannot comprehend the testing, the entire
school loses funding, resulting in poorer grades, and then further loss of funding. It is a cycle that

is unhealthy, especially for students who just cannot get it, or need some extra help in areas that
the test does not offer. If educators focus only on the testing and only helping the pupils who
have a chance of bringing good grades in, children are left behind, doing exactly the opposite of
what the original plan was. There are people who can see the negatives of standardized testing,
but there are also some positives to having a test that is standardized for all of the students
(Ravitch).
One of the positives of standardized testing, is the standardized. It is a test that is the
exact same for everyone takes it, it does not look into a students ethnicity, background, or
intelligence. Having a non-arbitral exam to see where everyone is at can then help educators to
see where a student is lacking in their education, and what needs to be studied and helped with
even more (Ravitch).
Data gathering is one of the things that a standardized test excels at. Being able to take a
test that has been taken by many students and at a considered standard will show if people are
lacking in their education in the core topics. If the students from a certain ethnicity or
background all have poor scores, that data can be gathered and used in the future to see what the
school might be missing in their common curriculum. Having data is the first step for people to
be able to learn from mistakes and then grow from them, you can even use the data to see what
people are doing correctly (Kementz).
There is a place for standardized testing in the common school system, we need to be
able to see how our students are doing, if they are beneath the norm, or above. We need to see
what they need to learn, and what they already know. It is too easy to think that students
understand and are able to use the information they have learned in the real world, and that is
something that the standardized tests can help us to grasp. Too much emphasis is being placed on

the tests though, if we start focusing on the students education more, and the tests as a tool
rather than the most important thing for the students, then we will be able to see much more
improvement in the students education, and even in the teachers efforts. (Andy Schmit,
personal communication, December 4, 2015).
Standardized tests are helpful and a way to see where the students are at on their
education level, but we do need to focus less on the test, and more on the students. We need it in
moderation so that it does not distract us from actually teaching our students what they need to
know. There are many positives and negatives in the issue of standardized testing, but in all
things, there is a healthy amount and there can be too much of a good thing. Keeping the tests
will be helpful for information and knowledge of the students education. Lessoning the
necessity will take off the pressure and teachers focusing on the test rather than the students and
what they really need.

Works Cited:
Kamenetz, A. (2015). The Test. PublicAffairs.

Pauline Vu, "Do State Tests Make the Grade?, www.stateline.org, Jan 17, 2008

Ravitch, D. (2013). Reign of Error. New York City, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

(Andy Schmit, personal communication, December 4, 2015)