Should Standardized Testing Be Banned

The ironic acronym of the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR) belies its inherent problems. As much as standardized testing has been hailed as a means of improving overall school and individual student performance, these methods use prejudicial and categorical unfair means to do so. Relying overly much on standardized testing like the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is wrong for several reasons. One, relying too much on standardized testing overlooks other domains of learning and achievement. No test can comprehensively measure all the elements of a good education. Second, standardized testing creates unnecessary stress and compounds mental health issues in young people. Third, standardized testing prevents teachers from engaging and inspiring students. Finally, standardized testing discriminates against the already disadvantaged, further entrenching inequality in education.
Standardized tests measure only specific skills, a narrow bandwidth of knowledge and cognition. Even the official Department of Education report on the FCAT and FAIR reveal that the tests can only measure certain elements. As a result, the full gamut of academic inquiry is left behind when the system relies too heavily on the FCAT or FAIR. Students need a broad and high quality education that appeals to all students, helping each individual cultivate their unique skills in the arts, sciences, athletics, and the humanities. Standardized tests create a society of robots. Moreover, the overreliance on tests means that “failing one particular test can spell the end of a child’s progress academically and professionally,” (Stephens 1). Standardized tests restrict the meaning of education, and do not prepare students for the real world at all. As the job sector reflects diversity and not the rigidity of the FCAT, policymakers need to do away with the FCAT.
Stress is a critical concern among students, and is affecting students at an increasingly younger age. Standardized testing is known as a “high stakes” situation, in which the results of the test have irreversible and serious consequences for the child’s future (Strauss 1). To place so much pressure on young students can lead to adverse mental and physical health issues. As Stephens points out, “students are suffering from academic burn-out at an early age,” (1). Research also shows that the tests are having a deleterious effect on students’ ability to learn. For example, Strauss states that the tests have “severely impacted student learning,” (1).
Teachers and administrators must develop curricula and pedagogical methods specifically geared towards student achievement on standardized tests like the FCAT. What this means is a lower overall quality of teaching, less teacher interest in their profession, and ultimately, a lower grade of educators throughout the state. As Stephens so bluntly puts it, “a plague has been sweeping through American schools, wiping out the most innovative instruction and beating down some of the best teachers and administrators,” (1).
The public education system already discriminates, and standardized testing only exacerbates the gap between rich and poor, between people who have power in society and those who do not. As Stephens points out, schools with a high percentage of non-white students receive less funding, and their communities lack the necessary infrastructure or access to tutoring and other means of improving test scores. Wealthier families also have the time and resources to help their children perform better on standardized tests. As a result, “students from low-income and minority-group backgrounds are hurt the most by these standardized tests,” (Stephens 1). Therefore, standardized tests like the FCAT need to be banned immediately.
As much as the idea of standardized testing seems appealing, the FCAT and other tests need to be repealed. Standardized testing discriminates against all but the most highly advantaged students. Teachers lower their standards of pedagogical practice when they teach only to promote higher test scores in their classes. Students are under an unnatural amount of stress and pressure because of the high stakes involved in standardized testing, which is terrible given the fact that the tests measure only a narrow and nebulous bandwidth of knowledge.







Works Cited

Foorman, Barbara R., Sarah Kershaw, and Yaacov Petscher. “Evaluating the screening accuracy of the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR).” U.S. Department of Education, Sept, 2013. Retrieved online: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/southeast/pdf/rel_2013008.pdf
Stephens, Jamie N. “FCAT and the role of standardizing testing: Fair, friend or foe?” New Reporting and the Internet. Retrieved online: https://students.com.miami.edu/netreporting/?page_id=2535
Strauss, Valerie. “How Standardized Tests Are Affecting Public Schools.” Washington Post. 2012. Retrieved online: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/2012/05/17/gIQABH1NXU_blog.html?utm_term=.a14b6efdb545