The Many Downsides of Standardized Testing in Schools

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid” -Albert Einstein. This quote applies to standardized testing, and how it doesn’t measure the creativity of students. Although standardized testing is trusted in almost every school, there are more downsides than upsides. For instance, it doesn’t grade students’ innovation, imagination, and important virtues

Standardized tests measure only a small portion of what makes education meaningful. According to education researcher Gerald W. Bracey, Ph.D., qualities that standardized tests cannot measure include “creativity, critical thinking, resilience, persistence, self-discipline, compassion, and resourcefulness.” There are also more values that cannot be covered. Procon.org remarks that standardized testing also doesn’t gauge, “Motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, and leadership.” Standardized testing doesn’t take into account important factors of students’ education. Also, many can’t handle the stress of such a big test.

Some kids just aren’t good test takers some kids might know the test like the back of their hand, but just knowing the fact that it’s a big test, they tend to freeze up during. Also, many kids show growth in different ways. For example, some kids might show growth by doing better in class and on homework, while others prefer 1one1 help from a tutor or teacher to get a much better understanding of the topic or lesson, because if you think about it, many people drop out of school due to the fact that tests are overwhelming and too much stress on one kid. But there is one more reason why these tests should not be trusted.

Some will say that standardized testing remains the best way to hold schools accountable for their academic performance. However, Students know that test scores affect their future lives, and the stress is so immense that some cheat on the test and others sacrifice their health to study.

Although standardized testing is said to be trustworthy it actually is not. It doesn’t value diversity or creativity. “Too often, [students] are given answers to remember, rather than problems to solve.” -Roger Lewis. So, the cons of standardized testing are that it doesn’t value creativity or diversity, it doesn’t take into account student’s stress, and doesn’t actually prevent cheating. Perhaps this essay changed your outlook on standardized testing. Do you think it should be used anymore?