Arguments for using standardized test scores to evaluate teacher effectiveness

Pros of Standardized Testing

The Pros / Standardized Tests

Standardized testing is important because the tests, for one, are highly accountable as well as reliable. They are able to judge the candidates on a common platform across states and nations. The 'No Child Left Behind Act' of 2003, announced by former president George W. Bush, was a major instigator of standardized tests being used in several cities in the United States as a chief part of the educational curriculum. Standardized tests are important because they are really able to assess where students are.

There are so many different styles of teachers, ways to teach, and ways to shape a curriculum; if every student was to be tested in a different way based on all of the aforementioned factors, there would be so many different grades and percentages that it would be really difficult to tell where a student was in terms of averages.

Another really great aspect of standardized testing is the fact that computers check the tests and so the tests remain completely unbiased. Since the tests are multiple-choice questions and do not involve any theory, it makes computers the obvious choice for checking the tests, which is both efficient, and, as before mentioned, completely unbiased.

The current law requires that test scores increase in every single school every single year, in order to meet the requirement that 100% of students reach proficiency by the year 2014 (New York Times 2010). Standardized tests are the only way in which we can make sure that students are becoming proficient in both reading and math. The standardized tests were developed by the states under the No Child law and they make sure that each student in each grade level is advancing as they should in consideration of the grade level that they are in. This is why it is so important that standardized testing be done.

Furthermore, standardized testing makes sure that schools are accountable for their students' learning (Education.com 2010). With standardized testing, there is no way for schools to excuse what is happening when students are consistently scoring low within that school district. Standardized testing guarantees the educational accountability in the academic achievement of all students (2010).

Another great aspect of standardized testing is the fact that they can be used across states and districts. In not only helps the students, but it also helps schools become better educating institutions because they, in a way, are being tested too. Standardized testing makes it possible for us to see where schools are failing its students. It improves accountability overall.

A bonus pro-of standardized testing is that it motivates students to really learn the material they are being taught -- as opposed to simply memorizing it for tests at school (Balanced Politics 2010). It is so important that we know where students are, whether they are behind others -- or ahead. There is reason to believe that a student who is behind may stay behind permanently because knowledge is cumulative (2010).

There has been research that has pointed to students being "cynical about tests" (Paris et al. 1991), but the more that standardized testing is considered the norm, the more accepting students will become of it and thus they will feel motivated to really do well on them. Moreover, studies have shown that standardized testing has "considerable effects, and that teachers feel considerable pressure to improve student scores" (Herman & Golan 1993).