Learn more about standardized testing with an interactive poster about pros and cons! A short video is included for more information and an optional poll at the end to compare stances on this issue.
For optimal viewing, please use the bar on the far right of the poster to scroll down.
I highly agree with this article. I feel that standardized testing is a necessary evil for school. I do think that it proves a lot of unnecessary stress and it forces teachers to teach to fit the test and not for students to learn. Also i do not think that teachers should be as harshly judged for students scores. What if one kid just doesn't care about that class? That's not the teachers fault.
ReplyDeleteReally nice article, Natalie. I agree with all of the pros and cons you made. I especially agree with the fact that standardized tests can create unnecessary stress, and the fact that teachers will teach to the test since the scores are so significant. While there are negatives, standardized testing does has positives, so it's hard to say whether or not it should be eliminated, or what actions should be taken. Good article!
ReplyDeleteThis article was really telling, meaning that SAT's might not work for every student. Everyone has their own test taking routines
ReplyDeleteThis was a very detailed article which explains the pros and cons of standardized testing. I believe that testing is both positive and negative. In many instances, I believe that testing is negative because a lot of students don't excel they way they should. Teachers hold students to such high standards and sometimes students just cannot perform that well. Hopefully, as a community we can come together as one to figure out a solution to testing and how it can be beneficial to all, not just some!
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article because one test should not tell you that you are below average and that majority people have test anxiety. Also stress from test can impact people's lifestyle in school, home, work-place, or even themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article because one test could show poor results for the smartest of students due to personal issues/disabilities of an individual. I can apply this to myself because I get very stressed out when it comes to test and score badly.
ReplyDeleteStandardized Testing is completely unnecessary for students. It is not fair how one exam grade can affect a students overall grade. Exams also bring a lot stress to students, and make students panic before the exam. Also, a lot of students aren't good test takers and one test doesn't show the overall knowledge of a student. I am not very good at taking tests. In the past few years I have done excellent in all my classes, but I always do really bad on the exams. Standardized Testing needs to become better to help students
ReplyDeleteThis was a very informative article that thoroughly explains the ups and downs of standardized testing. I completely agree that standardized testing puts a lot of stress on students but it does benefit the teachers helping them knowing what to teach so not a minute is wasted. Great article!
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ReplyDeleteStandardized testing directly effects me, being a high school student. I like your article, it really hits the nail on the head when it comes to the pros and cons of testing, and I agree with your opinions. I personally feel the same way about the cons of standardized testing, specifically the point about teaching for the test.
Thank you for the information. I have quite a few friends who suffer from test anxiety. I understand the benefits of standardized testing but have always felt that the negative side was misrepresented. Thank you for showing both sides in an equal light.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the cons of this article because a lot of students have trouble with tests because of testing anxiety, along with me, and the set up of standardized tests creates a lot of tension and stress in the classroom that I don't believe we need. I know the system needs a way to measure academia, but I hope they can find a better alternative in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article because I think standardized testing is a must for the school even though I completely hate testing. Its needed because its a way to show the county if your teacher has taught you the needed material to continue on to the next needed class. If we didn't have standardized testing their wouldn't be a common core that the kids would have to learn, that being said one teacher could teach you one thing and the other teacher could say that's completely wrong. One thing I know is that it is hard for kids with testing anxiety their should be something alternative if a child can not mentally take the test. Final projects something in that field that will count 25% of his or hers grade.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the cons of this article. Standardized test are stressful. When someone gets freaked out or has anxiety before one, they are not able to preform as well on the test. I personally undergo the getting stressed before a test and especially an exam. I feel there should be another way to measure how far a student has come. Maybe not by a stressful test, something less stressful but still accurate.
ReplyDeleteI understand why standardized tests must exist and their purpose in education, but I still wish their was a better way of evaluating students. Many of the standardized tests I've taken are less then 40 questions, which makes studying for them stressful because you don't know what exactly to study. I've also run into having teachers who teach the curriculum the way they want too, which has caused me to be confused on the standardized test because I did not learn how the exam wanted you to know the information.
ReplyDeleteI love this article for clearly stating the pros and cons of standardized testing. Comparing the pros and cons, I honestly think they should have a different method of evaluating students. Even though it can evaluate a teachers teaching method, it puts a lot of stress on the student. "Teaching to the test" is not a good teaching method. I've been lucky enough to have some teachers who teach in a way where the students can actually retain the information. However, I've also had teachers only "teaching to the test." In those classes I didn't retain a lot of information. Overall, with standardized tests, students stress on getting a good grade instead of actually learning the material.
ReplyDeleteI like this article because, it addresses some problems with standardized testing. For instance the fact that some teachers teach only what is on the test, and not everything that you need to know for the class.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article so much! The pros and cons are incredibly accurate and understandable! We were actually talking about this today. ACT and SATS are far too important in college applications. It creates unnecessary obstacles for students ! I completely agree with this! We should do something about this!
ReplyDeleteLast year I took NCVPS SAT prep online. This post addresses some of the advantages and disadvantages to the standardized testing process. I definitely agree that it only shows a student's ability on one specific day because when I took the SAT, my scores varied greatly on different test days.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with this article! I do find standardized testing to be important, but very stressful. Students and teachers should not worry so much about a single number, and colleges should use a holistic approach in admission.
ReplyDeleteGreat work as always Natalie! I liked how you stated some pros and cons of standardized testing. Standardized tests tend to get a bad rap, so it was good to see both sides of the argument in your post.
ReplyDeleteThis article has many of the same feelings and views I have to standardized testing. I understand they are necessary but agree with your fact that they do not measure overall development. Also, they do create lots of stress, however, I believe that if you work hard throughout the year, you will do fine on the final test.
ReplyDeleteFantastic article! I can definitely relate to testing anxiety for SAT/ACT, even when I score well. So glad that I am a senior now and have all of that behind me (Yay!). I also agree that the standardized testing could encourage teachers to review narrow topics rather than take a holistic approach. We have to re-evaluate the goal of standardized tests and decide if we really want to prepare students for a single exam or for long-term success.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a great article! I think the "teaching to the test" con is a very good point. Tests can often stress teachers as much as it does to many students. However, I do think that testing is necessary as it is a way to compare students. Once again, this is an awesome article!
ReplyDeleteAmazing article! There are many problems with standardized testing making the teacher only "teaching to the test". I believe that testing will test the knowledge students learn, but also on the other hand a test doesn't define who you are.
ReplyDeleteI really like this article and think that it takes each side of standardized testing into perspective. I like your idea of "teaching to the test" a lot because I do feel as if in some of my classes I am only being taught what is on the test and not everything you can learn about one subject.
ReplyDeleteI think this article does a great job presenting both the good side and bad side to standardized testing. It is good to remember, even when we don't like something, that almost everything can be positive and negative if you look hard enough.
ReplyDeleteThis article is enlightening and a good place for people to start researching the impact of standardized testing on education. I feel that outlining both pros and cons of standardized testing allows the reader to choose which side they would like to pick. As a public school teacher, sometimes I find myself lulled into "teaching to the test" because so much rides on how well our students do. I do agree that standardized testing gives each school, teacher, student a level of accountability, but is standardized testing the only way to achieve this goal? I think student portfolios could also accomplish this goal.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article did a good job of how standardized testing is equally good as well as equally bad. It makes me think about how there is so much negativity behind standardized testing that there are benefits to these tests and how they can help educators and schools improve. I do wish that there were other ways that students can be assessed as a whole as some students don't do well when it comes to test. Maybe use portfolios, presentations, projects.
ReplyDeleteRight on with this article! As both a teacher and a parent, I definitely see the pros and cons of standardized testing. We definitely need it as some form of assessment on record, but I really believe there are so many problems. First of all, we need to stop celebrating growth and leaving proficiency by the way side. If a student is in 7th grade and is still not at least proficient in reading and math, they will most likely continue to struggle in school, especially in high school. It seems as though school systems celebrate the fact that students jump from a level one to a level two. They are still not even passing. I strongly believe that students should be held more accountable in the early grades. If s student is not proficient by the third grade, summer school or extra tutoring/classes need to be provided. There were students in summer school every year when I grew up in New York. No excuses.
ReplyDeleteNatalie's interactive poster on standardized testing caught my eye because students at my school have taken several standardized exams over the past few months.
ReplyDeleteI was glad to see some pros listed for standardized testing because it is usually thought of negatively by the media, school employees, and students.
Standardized tests do put a lot of pressure on students, but dealing with pressure is something high schoolers will have to deal with in the "real world." Learning how to cope with stress will be a valuable skill for teenagers to have.
Furthermore, big standardized tests like AP exams, the SAT, and the ACT are fairly formulaic, and it is possible to be well-prepared for these challenging tests. However, it does require a lot of effort to be ready to achieve a top score. Students who devote sizable amounts of time to prepping for these tests show their perseverance and desire to score well. In their futures, teenagers who want to achieve their goals in life will need to push through setbacks and know their motivations for wanting to reach their goals.
Standardized exams also provide an objective and common form of data which can be used to compare students across the nation, as Natalie noted.
Standardized testing is by no means the only way students should be evaluated, but just because exams are difficult or strenuous doesn't mean they should be discounted as a method for measuring student achievement.
as a student seeing pros for standardized tests gives me a reason to study for them and try hard to do good on them. and there are very few cons.
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