Research Essay on Standardized Testing

Standardized testing does not measure students’ abilities because there are too many factors that can decrease a student's ability to get a good score including stress, advantages, and disadvantages among people, and the cheating scandal that makes tests unreliable. When under pressure and stress students tend to forget knowledge and perform poorly. It quotes “Standardized tests bring out anxiety in even the top students of the class. The Sacramento Bee has informed, “The Standford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it” (Sandbox Staff). Should schools measure your intelligence and abilities on a test that is so nerve-racking it needs a section dedicated to what to do if you throw up? There is also an advantage and disadvantage to students taking standardized test. Wealthier students whose first language is the language used in the test have a huge advantage over poorer students with special needs or not fluent in the language tested. Non- English speakers or children with special needs often need help to understand the standardized questions. These questions can be difficult and are often misinterpreted leading to a false bad score (Sandbox staff). These students don’t comprehend the questions, therefore, are not able to answer the question. The advantages and opportunities wealthier students have to score better on standardized tests make the tests unfair. The low-income families can not afford high test-preparation classes, AP tests, or the ability to retake the tests. Meanwhile, wealthier students have these opportunities allowing them to have an advantage on the test (Ibrahimi). Lower-income families are not given the same opportunities as higher-income families leading to an inevitable worst score. The last factor that can make a standardized test unreliable for a true representation of a student’s intelligence is the large factor of cheating. Test takers get overly desperate to get a perfect score that even well-behaved individuals resort to cheating. It can be seen as a life-saver for struggling students and the easiest approach. “Campbell’s Law predicts that any time huge stakes are attached to quantitative data, the data itself will become inherently unreliable and distorted through cheating and gaming the system” (Haimson). In simple terms, Campbell’s law states the more important an experience is the more likely it is to be manipulated. The stress that is produced, the unfairness of different student groups, and the cheating scandals that inevitably appear present standardized tests can not be used as a true representation of a student’s abilities or intelligence.