Should Standardized Testing Be Required Essay

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"Believing we can improve schooling with more tests is like believing you can make yourself grow taller by measuring your height" (Students Against Testing). All students that attend a public school in the United States are required to take standardized tests starting in third grade. Then those students have to take at least two a year until they enter high school, and once in high school students have to continue taking the same type of tests along with other standardized tests such as AP tests, the SAT, and the ACT. Standardized tests should not be required because it is not an accurate form of measurement of a students ' progress, causes unnecessary stress, and causes teachers to neglect the skills that go beyond the test. A standardized test is any examination that is administered and scored in a predetermined and standard manner (Popham). Young children all over the United States are now required to take standardized tests according to the No Child Left Behind Act passed by president George W. Bush. The No Child Left Behind Act that was passed in 2001 requires students to take a standardized test in math and reading starting in third grade and every year after that until they have finished middle school. States are also required to be given one standardized test in science during the students ' time in both elementary school and middle school. Once they enter a public high school states are only required to give one standardized test in math, reading, and science, however, if the student is taking an AP course, then that student will have a standardized test for each AP course as well. If a student then decides they want to apply to a college then they have to start preparing for other standardized tests, such as the ACT and the SAT. In order to prepare for these tests that will be a major deciding factor for college admissions, students will sometimes decide to take extra classes that exclusively focus on practicing for these tests. Students that have a specific college in mind will often take both of these tests multiple times in order to achieve their desired score. 95% of all colleges either require or present the option to submit either their SAT or ACT scores in order to be considered for that college (Morse). Both of these tests require high school students to test for four hours straight; in the subjects of math, reading, science, grammar, and writing. A standardized test is not an accurate form of measurement of a students ' progress over the years that they attend school. These tests cannot measure important skills such as creativity, critical thinking, determination, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline, leadership, integrity, resourcefulness, and courage all of which are important in order to be successful throughout life (ProCon.org). Students can have individual achievement with their own talents and abilities, but are lead to believe through these tests that they are not intelligent. Albert Einstein once said "everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." For example, throughout the year a student may have improved greatly in any of the listed qualities above, but may not have made adequate progress in the subjects that are tested …show more content…
Standardized tests cause unnecessary stress for both the teachers and the students because of the amount of pressure weighing on the results of the standardized tests. 78% of all schools consider standardized tests to be considerably important ("Are Test Scores Still Important College Admissions Requirements?"). During the weeks before, the day of, or in the weeks after students may experience tears, hyperventilation, vomiting, lack of sleep, and feel anxious from the stress that the students are under. These standardized tests do not consider the external factors that may be affecting each individual student. The debilitating stress caused from standardized tests may cause students to do poorly on the test, regardless of whether they know the material or not. This amount of stress is not healthy for anyone, especially growing children, and the time and emphasis that is placed on these tests does not

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