Argumentative Essay On Standardized Testing

Standardized test has a big impact on our education system. In fact, most people think that standardized test is a great part of our school systems, because they provide benchmarks, guidelines for the curriculum, and identify the problem areas. We can all come to the agreement that standardized testing is taking over the most important aspect of schooling, which is: learning. Even though standardized testing has its pros, limits need to be placed. Although standardized test gives the teacher's guidance on the students learning and the government information on the educational systems; limits need to be placed within standardized testing, because they are taking up too much class time and they are taking the role of teaching. The first reason …show more content…
Most of our school systems today are test driven. Instead of pushing the curriculum, teachers are now teaching to test. According to Zaria Howell, a journalist stated, “teachers are teaching to test because, their pay depends on the students test scores, and their jobs and schools are at risk, if the students do not perform well on standardized test” ( ‘Opting out’ 29). In other words, if students perform poorly on standardized test, teachers can lose pay and their jobs. Maybe even cause the schools to be shut down due to low test scores, so teachers have no other choice but to teach to test. Teachers, students, and parents often stress that standardized testing is over powering the curriculum. According to Zaria Howell, “ parents feels as if standardized testing is above teaching and the different styles of learning” (‘Opting out’ 29). Howell is stating that parents notice that testing is placed over the curriculum. As Obama stated “ Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble” (qtd. in Staff 2). Basically, Obama is stating that testing is taking away from classroom learning, and students are forced to learn formulas and terms to get the correct answer; when they should be focusing on a more valuable lesson in the classroom. Standardized testing has truly made many blind of what the focus of a classroom should be:

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