Standardized Testing needs to stay in the past

Standardized+Testing+needs+to+stay+in+the+past

Carmello Streckfus, Photographer

Throughout our lives, we have completed many assignments, projects and exams. But I have found one assignment to be useless: standardized tests. Most students I know stress fabout the looming threat of taking one of these tests. Plus, the tests are not a valid or reliable measurement of growth. On top of stress and unreliability, standardized testing is a cash grab. School districts should not be requiring standardized testing because of the stress that it causes students, the unreliable information they provide and the irrelevant priority given to making money for companies outside of education.

For as long as I can remember whenever a teacher would announce we would be taking a standardized test the class would collectively groan. Standardized testing brings nothing but stress, anxiety and in some cases depression. A student’s life is already composed of stressful work and competitions. Standardized testing does not even give the satisfaction like acing a quiz does. These tests are unprogressive and intrusive to a student’s already-stressful schedule. 

Standardized testing has never given educators a serious breakthrough when it comes to student growth and this is because these tests are highly invaluable. Yours Humanly, a student growth foundation, has committed time to studying standardized testing and, when asked, most students agree they never improved or changed because of standardized testing. The more ridiculous fact is that most teachers agreed with them, exclaiming in the data that standardized tests are more of a roadblock in lesson planning. Standardized testing helps no one.

One of the unseen facts of standardized testing is the amount of money lining NCS Pearson’s pockets. NCS Pearson is the company that sells the use of standardized tests in school. Their annual profits fluctuate between $500-$700 million, meaning school districts are buying these tests and these companies are profiting from student stress. Schools have been used for decades now by companies, like NCS Pearson, to prey on the not so fortunate. For a student, this is not a major worry, but for the district it means a substantial hit to the budget.

Standardized testing has come to be known as a bad thing in the past few years. However, school districts are locked in this system because it is available and the state mandates it. Districts need to drop these old methods and just leave the tests at that, gone.