Should schools eliminate standardized testing?

Elliot (No)

We should keep standardized testing primarily because without it, we would struggle to determine which schools are falling behind. The universal nature of this system means that each school is held to the exact same standards. And the resulting scores help us determine which schools need more assistance or funding in the future to help students reach a proper standard of academic achievement. 

Standardized testing also helps us determine which teachers are actually doing their jobs. If students taught by a particular teacher consistently score poorly on standardized tests, we can hold this teacher accountable and figure out what they’re doing wrong. Without this system, one teacher could fail to impart vital knowledge to generations of children, leaving them unprepared for college-level courses and real-world careers. 

One of the most common criticisms of standardized testing is that some students struggle in high-pressure situations and that their scores might not reflect their true abilities. Well, the real world is full of high-stakes situations. Sometimes, professionals are faced with stressful deadlines. Professional soldiers or police officers have to make life-or-death decisions in split seconds. The high-pressure nature of standardized testing reflects real-world conditions and helps train students to deal with them. 

Finally, standardized testing is also inherently fair and unbiased. Grading is done by machines, and tests are uniform across many schools and districts. If we eliminate standardized testing, students in certain districts or areas may be held to a higher or lower standard than others. 

Ultimately, there is absolutely no reason to get rid of standardized tests. Sure, it’s stressful. Studying is hard. But education isn’t supposed to be easy. 

Bre (Yes)

Research has repeatedly exposed standardized tests as profoundly and irreparably flawed. Consistently proven to be inherently discriminatory against minorities and blatantly biased toward socio-economic status, the tests are entirely unhelpful to student outcomes. In fact, when they originated, they were popularized as a means of racist exclusion.

Standardized tests enhance extremes in scoring and fail to assess aptitude. They contribute to labeling and a reduced will to try. Further, in classrooms, they interrupt routine learning and curriculum standards. They’re ineffective as tools for student advancement, as their content is arbitrary and classist, acting at best as a measure for access and test-taking ability.

For students, these tests generate tremendous pressure and require focusing on skills and information that are irrelevant. It’s impossible to achieve truly standardized administration, and the mere attempt at uniformity is extremely unfavorable to students, disregarding known variations in learning styles.

A corporate-led, product-placing instrument of a massive industry, standardized tests are poorly regulated and simply don’t enhance the educational experience in any substantive way. They’re a product of bureaucratic agendas and the profit-driven businesses driving them. For paid college admissions tests, administrators have even received bribes to permit flagrant cheating.

The movement to eliminate standardized tests is strengthening, as even after attempted reform, they remain heavily criticized. They continue to be correlated to life situations and damaging for students. Especially for minorities, they’re shown to hinder rather than measure students’ future success.

There’s no real basis to support the continuation of standardized tests. As Michelle Obama said, “If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.”