Ahles 1 Its time to break out the No.

2 pencils and spend the next four hours packed in a high-stress room bubbling exams that alter our educative paths. According to Time magazine writer Dan Fletcher, standardized testing has been under scrutiny since its induction here in the United States. The real question that needs answered is whether or not standardized testing is an effective show of knowledge and literacy in our education system. Numerous angles have been played for this controversial topic by different organizations for and against standardized testing they report biased statistics aiming to validate only their own opinions. We must sift through these facts and figures in order to fathom all that has been contested on all sides of this topic. Due to the sheer volume of this ongoing debate, we will grasp at the leading-arguments of all these sides before I draw conclusions of own. In 2001, George Bush signed The No Child Left Behind educative reform. This controversial reform led to the expansion of state-mandated standardized testing as means of assessing school performancethis not only meant that standardized testing in each state was mandatory, but that the money would go where the grades are. This unfortunately reinforces prejudices, not because the test itself is racist, but because the demographic for the lowest 45% of FCAT scores is from low-income, minority group backgrounds. (Kohn 4) This demographic of students typically find themselves in remedial classes at low-rated and low-funded schools. In turn the teachers at these schools give a vast amount of their student population a dummieddown curriculum putting them further behind middle and upper-class students. Another widely used argument against the use of standardized tests is that teaching to the test narrows the scope of knowledge students are taught. The

Ahles 2 Washington Post writer, Valerie Strauss, wrote about how elementary school teachers for grades three through five, at the beginning of each school year are mandated to purchase a workbook (to work through with their students) that is specifically geared towards teaching their states respective exam. Here in Florida, that book is known as the FCAT Explorer. These books were produced by the FCAT for the FCAT, and our teachers dont often have time to deviate from this book. Teachers no longer had the time to have students perform extemporaneous exercises such as practical application of math formulas, or the experience of orally reporting a speechinstead they are taught the drone of bubbling A, B, C, or D for the correct answer. (Clegg) What would we do without standardized exams? How do we gauge where schools stand compared to neighboring schools? These are the most commonly asked questions and surprisingly the easiest to answer. According to Rebecca Ray of The Saratoga News, the US is actually the only economically advanced nation to rely on high-stakes multiple-choice tests. Other nations choose to use practical examination, usually requiring a board of judges. Performance is the ultimate test, after all, an exam consists of mostly just theory other countries focus on what it is you can actually do and accomplish. Stunningly in tests administered by the Fairtest organization in mock examples of our multiple-choice standardized exams, students of these performance-testing based classes actually scored higher than US students taking the very same exam. Clearly the results speak for themselves; students retained 70% more information over the course of two weeks after hearing and applying the knowledge learned, rather than just taking notes on the information in

Ahles 3 a classroom. Despite the evidence presented above, there are still many valid arguments for the importance we place on standardized testing. Through my research Ive found the point that truly stands out is that some students are victims of their own GPA. Ill admit that I see a personal connection with this point, my grades through high school werent always the greatest, but my test grades were. I was easily in the ninety-fifth plus testing range for nearly ever exam I took and scored well into the 1300s on my SAT. Chances are I wouldnt be writing this paper for an accredited university if it werent for those test grades balancing out my high school GPA. To this same token, its already nearly impossible to compare grades across a county, better yet an entire nation. They allot for a nationwide standard of knowledge, and although this may narrow the teaching scope a bit, they argue that its a small tradeoff to have such an authority and understanding of the knowledge being taught and the respective learning. According to Mike Flippos writing Parents Wage Misguided War Against Standardized Testing eighty-three percent of parents are for standardized testing across America as it ensures their students learn what is considered the minimum threshold of knowledge. The assessments force educators to constantly update their own banks of information. In the past, teachers developed their curriculums based on their school and their own prior-attained information. They would teach the same information year to year without any real immediacy for an update to go back and check the history books to make sure theres no new changes or updates in their respective subjects. However, once a national standard was created, so was a constantly up-to-

Ahles 4 date information guide to teaching it. These curriculums arent even lasting long enough to be considered annual anymore; according to Association of American Publishers, they are being updated anywhere from one to three times a year. Alas we have reached the point where I voice my own opinion. Interpreting all of this data is no joke, this is an ongoing debate and for good reasontheres just so many cloudy areas and what ifs. However, I feel that the evidence has led me to feeling that standardized testing is unnecessary. Learning about other countries systems of judges seems more inconvenient, but all the more accurate for it. Your knowledge is put to the test through the act of not bubbling in an answer, but working a math problem in front of these judges that then grade your work. They give points for the small things such as remembering a formula, correctly analyzing what the problem is asking and other similar categories. The fact is getting the wrong answer doesnt mean that you dont know the knowledge, thats what these judges are looking for. In 2003, two hundred thousand third grade students test scores on the FCAT were deemed inflated after having been reported to students. The organization Fairtest went on to say this effectively held back thirteen thousand students whom otherwise wouldve advanced a grade with their friends. Now holding a student back that was near failing the FCAT doesnt seem the worst possible result of this mistakeits the startling fact that holding a student back one school year dropped their odds of graduating to fifty percent, if they are held back another year, these odds are decayed to a mere one percent. Despite the pros listed above, I must side with the con side of this argumentits hard to have faith in an institution thats

Ahles 5 defeated its very own cause to better the knowledge and success of students. I believe in an organized system of testing, however our form of A, B, C, D, examination is beyond any doubt in my mind not the system were looking for. I truly feel we should be learning by example, mimicking the systems already being more successfully applied in other countries.