The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

Standardized tests are given to determine knowledge in a fair, equal way, and they should be used as the main benchmark of knowledge. Every high school student will take a standardized test before they graduate. These tests are designed for the sole purpose of determining how much knowledge a student has in a given subject. There have been countless studies done to learn how to make these tests as accurate as possible, and the data shows that these tests really do what they are supposed to do. Standardized tests have been directly correlated with knowledge and IQ. In other words, it has been proven that the more you know, and the higher your IQ is, the more likely you are to score well on a standardized test. Standardized tests are the most
As Aaron Churchill of edexcellence.net says, “Standardized exams are objective measures. They assess students based on a similar set of questions, are given under nearly identical testing conditions, and are graded by a machine or blind reviewer. They are provide an accurate, unfiltered measure of what a student knows,” (Churchill). Standardized tests are graded completely anonymously, and are all multiple choice answers, which means there is no discrepancy on whether the answer to a question was right or wrong. The timed atmosphere of a standardized test also challenges a student’s mental toughness and ability to work under pressure, both important characteristics for a future employee. Standardized tests are the most accurate and fair way to measure a student’s knowledge, and to compare students against each other, and when trying to get a sense of knowledge, rather than the willingness to do the work given, standardized tests should be the first thing
When a teacher gives a student a grade, many things can be going through his or her head other than whether or not the student completed the assignment to a satisfactory level. Most instructors are unbiased and fair in their grading, but there are also teachers who are not completely unbiased. Whether they know it or not, an instructor can be grading a student unfairly based on how much he or she likes the student. Teachers also have a tendency to give grades based on how well they connect or interact with a student. An example of this was shown in a study done by J.M.S. Sobczyk. The study was an analysis of the relationship that exists between teacher-student personality type alignment and the grades that teachers assign at the end of the semester. The students and teachers in the study were studied to determine whether they were an introvert or an extrovert, intuitive or sensate and judging or perceiving. The hypothesis of the study was that the introverted students would get better grades in classes taught by introverted teachers and the same would be true with extroverted students in classes taught by extroverted teachers, and the same would be true for the other two personality traits tested. “The findings of the study can be summarized as follows: Introverted students were assigned higher end-of-semester grades than were Extroverted students if the teacher was an introvert,