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Jordie McWilliams
Mrs. Touchstone
English 101.1
03 November 2016
Standardized Testing
Ring. Ring. Ring. It is seven oclock in the morning on a Saturday. You get dressed,
eat breakfast, and start the car. The location of the test center is entered into the cars
navigation system. You arrive at your location and grab your identification, calculator, and
pencils. As everyone files into the testing room, time is winding down to eight oclock. Now,
it is eight oclock, and the test has began. As questions are being answered, the time ticks
away. The proctor announces that there is five minutes remaining. As soon as you hear
those words, panic sets in. The unfilled bubbles are frantically being darkened, so the test
section will be completed. The proctor says stop, put your pencils down, and close your
test booklet. The anticipation of knowing the scores to determine your collegiate education
and experience will linger over several weeks until the scores are released. This is what
teenagers experience when they are forced into taking standardized tests. These tests
grab colleges attentions for determining a students acceptance because standardized
tests have been implemented into admission requirements for many decades.
College admission requirements first began at Harvard University in the 1600s.
Harvard University was the first institution established for higher education in the United
States. The admission requirements of Harvard became the founding principle for other
institutions. As more colleges were established in the 1700s, the admission requirements
remained consistent with Harvards, but some colleges added other subjects like
arithmetic and Greek. As the eighteenth century was coming to a close, the United States
of America was undergoing significant social, religious, and political changes. Because of
this, people in America strove to obtain a better education than before and were

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determined to expand their knowledge beyond the traditional curriculum. Since more high
school graduates wanted to enlarge their knowledge, admission requirements were
subject to change. More subjects such as algebra, history, and geometry were added to
the requirements. By the 1870s, there was a variety of subjects to be evaluated for
admission. The continuous development in admission requirements was directly correlated
with the demand for higher education. As World War 2 was coming to end, studies found
that colleges were accepting high school students based on six major factors: high school
graduation, a minimum number of credits for certain subjects, rank in graduating class,
recommendation letter from the principal, a personal interview, and aptitude and
achievement test scores (Beale). The shift of expectations resulted in higher standardized
test scores and a wider range of accepted students. Colleges began to focus more on the
academic merit of their students. The change to a more academically based admission
process benefitted the schools merit and reputation yet has only forced competition
between the true meritocrats and the upper class. The college admission process now
begins far before high school, with many upper and middle class parents seeking early
placement in the best possible education programs. According to Holly, the founding of
elite colleges immediately enticed the upper class in America which forced colleges to
focus their attention on those who could afford, provide and positively publicize the
schools name. Originally elite colleges began seeking out those students who could
positively impact the school financially and socially, but are now bombarded with countless
eligible applicants leading the admission selectivity to become increasing more
competitive.
Standardized tests were first implemented into the United States education system
in the late 1800s. In 1890, Harvard President, Charles William Eliot, proposed a
cooperative system of common entrance examinations that schools throughout the country
would adopt, despite the separate examinations given by each school (History of

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Standardized Testing in the United States). In 1899, the College Entrance Examination
Board was established. In 1901, the first examinations were administered around the
country and covered nine subjects, and the tests were continued to be distributed across
the country for many years. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 opened
the way for new uses of norm-referenced tests to evaluate school programs. In 2001, No
Child Left Behind education reform created an expansion of state-mandated standardized
testing as means of assessing school performance. Now, most students are tested each
year of grade school. Since the standardized testing industry has grown tremendously
because of the No Child Left Behind Act, the College Board now develops and administers
standardized tests and curriculum used by grades K12 and postsecondary education
institutions to promote college-readiness and the college admissions process (The New
Rules).
The College Board founded the SAT standardized test in 1923 and first
administered the test in 1926. The SAT is an abbreviation for the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
The original test lasted ninety minutes and consisted of approximately three-hundred
questions to test knowledge on vocabulary and basic math skills. The revised SAT
consists of an evidence based reading and writing section, math section, and an optional
essay section. To create competition in the standardized testing world, Everett Franklin
Lindquist in 1959 developed the ACT, American College Test (Lindsay). The original
sections of the ACT were English, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Natural Sciences.
The revised ACT consists of English, Mathematics, Reading, Science, and an optional
essay. The SAT and ACT are the standardized tests that help colleges and universities
decide acceptance into their institutions. The College Board also offers SAT II tests,
designed for individual subjects ranging from biology to geography. There's also the PSAT,
taken in the junior year as preparation for the full-blown SAT and as an assessment for
National Merit Scholarships.

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Throughout elementary, intermediate, middle, and high school, an emphasis on
standardized testing is prominent. Standardized testing is an indicator to colleges,
universities, and politicians that helps determine the future of millennials. To colleges and
universities, standardized tests determine acceptance of students into their institution. As
for politicians, standardized tests help determine the budget of educational funding.
Americas education system should focus on a diverse set of skills used for a career or
college instead of preparing students for standardized tests.
Standardized tests carry consequences for students, teachers, and schools. Low
scores can prevent a student from progressing to the next grade level or lead to teacher
firings and school closures, while high scores ensure continued federal and local funding
and are used to reward teachers and administrators (Standardized Tests- ProCon.org.).
Excellent teachers quit the profession every day because of how much stress is on them
to prepare students to perform on standardized tests. Students especially feel the
pressure when there is something meaningful like college acceptance or scholarships is
tied to them. The No Child Left Behind Act has stripped opportunities in art, music, foreign
languages, and physical education for children because teachers have focused their
curriculum on the test regime students will face throughout grade school (Walker, The
Testing Obsession and Disappearing Curriculum). Teaching to test has become prevalent
in the education system. Teachers are accustomed to teaching the curriculum that will be
on exams instead of allowing students to flourish to their full potential. With the stakes
getting higher and higher for teachers, this practice will only continue to increase. The sad
reality is that it fosters an atmosphere that is boring and lacks creativity. According to
Derrick Meador, Standardized testing only evaluates the individual performance of the
student instead of the overall growth of that student over the course of the year. These
tests do not determine anyones ability to perform well in a college class. From my
personal experience, standardized tests are not even remotely close to what college will

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be like. For the past two years, I have been apart of the University of Alabama Early
College program which allows high school students to take college classes and
experience college by living on campus. The classes I have completed are Finite Math,
Human Development, Anthropology, Computer Science, and Chemistry with a 3.8 grade
point average. My high school, Oak Mountain, offers a Dual Enrollment program with
Jefferson State Community College allowing students to take a variety of college level
classes with actual professors. I was a part of this program my Junior year and took
Speech and Psychology. I am continuing dual enrollment throughout my Senior year in
high school and taking English 101 and 102. My grade point average is a 4.0 for Jefferson
State Community College. I have excelled in my different programs that allow me to
experience college while still being in high school. As a senior in high school, I have
experienced standardized tests like the SAT, PSAT, and ACT. I have taken the ACT seven
times and have only received a 26, but that does not mean I am not qualified for college.
64 percent of Americans say there is too much emphasis on testing, only 14 percent rated
standardized testing as an important factor in measuring school effectiveness, and 55
percent oppose test scores being used to evaluate teacher performance (Walker, Poll:
Americans Want Less Standardized Testing and More School Funding-NEA.org).
Standardized tests have been a negative experience for me and a variety of other people
when preparing for the transition between high school and college because so much
emphasis has been placed on the SAT or ACT to being accepted into a college.
Some people support standardized testing because it holds teachers and schools
accountable. The greatest benefit of standardized testing is that educators and schools
are responsible for teaching students what they are required to know for these
standardized tests. But when teachers only teach the curriculum that will be on the
examination, teachers are conforming to the idea of teaching to test. Teaching to test will
continue to increase because teachers focus on how students scores will affect their jobs,

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so teachers focus only on the curriculum that will be on the exams instead of educating
students on valuable skill sets. A students education will continue to decrease if this
continues to happen. We must reduce the emphasis on standardized tests that have
corrupted the quality of the education children receive. The pressure placed on students
and educators is enormous. The end game is to design a system where parents and
educators do not even consider opting out of assessments because they trust that
assessments make sense, guide instruction, and help children advance in learning.
Students are being robbed of the joy and adventure of learning. Colleges should focus on
the activities and the classes a student is involved rather than a standardized tests for
acceptance into the institutions. Standardized testing can not be the sole aspect that
determines a students future for higher education. The education system should provide
more funding to the arts. Music, art, photography, languages, and physical education can
create a better rounded student. A successful student is well rounded in math, reading,
english, science, and the arts, but if standardized testing is confiscating the ability to be
well rounded then people should be advocating for standardized testing to be diminished.
Laws and acts need to be created to lower the use of standardized tests, and for this to
occur, legislators need to be actively pursuing the need of improving the education system.
Legislators need to create laws which require schools to implement the arts back into
school programs and require colleges to focus on a variety of aspects that defines a
student. College can direct the admission process to the classes one takes, type of
instruments one plays, different activities one is involved in, or how one gives back to the
community. If this does not occur, then the United States will fall farther behind in the
education realm of the world, and children will become programmed into testing and never
learn valuable skills that could enhance their learning experience.

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Works Cited

Beale, Andrew V. The Evolution of College Admission Requirements. The National ACAC
Journal 15 (1970): 1-3. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.

"History of Standardized Testing in the United States." Rss. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.

Holly. "Accepted: The Evolution of College Admission Requirements." Educ 300 Education
Reform Past and Present. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

Lindsay, Samantha. "The History of the ACT Test." The History of the ACT Test. N.p., 30
June 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Meador, Derrick. "What You Need to Know About Standardized Testing." About.com
Education. N.p., 22 Aug. 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

"Standardized Tests - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., 31 Aug. 2016. Web. 07

Nov. 2016.

"The New Rules." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

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Walker, Tim. "Poll: Americans Want Less Standardized Testing and More School Funding NEA Today." NEA Today. N.p., 23 Aug. 2015. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

Walker, Tim. "The Testing Obsession and the Disappearing Curriculum - NEA Today." NEA
Today. N.p., 2 Sept. 2014. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.