The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Tests

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As concluded in the federal government policy for the improvement of education quality, the students in the United States are required to passannual tests in math, English, science and social studies. Thiscontroversialpolicy is known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Office Under Secretary 2002). In addition, several state governments have extended the tests to cover every subject not included in the original standardized test, including art, music, and physical education. However, many argue that this act has not been able to salvage the education system in the United States. Therefore, standardized tests are not effectively increasing the quality of education in American. The score results of the standardized tests are expected to show the progress of the students and the performance of the teachers. Later, these findingsare used to analyze the overall standard of the students in the…show more content…
The tests do not cover as many educational aspects and skills as expected from the parents, students, and teachers—like the creative abilities of the students and the ability to develop critical thinking. The part of the curriculum that addresses higher levels of cognitive ability, knowledge application, and skills is missing from the test (Ravitch3). Standardized tests are generally narrowing the curriculum. Schools and students are judged based on their performance on mathematics and reading tests. This has prompted most of the schools to focus attention on the subjects tested; abandoning social studies, arts and music in pursuit of high scores in tested subjects. Even within the tested subjects, most schools still narrow attention to materials and topics that could be covered on the standardized tests. Educational critics argue that when the teachers only teach students to succeed in the test, the teachers will eventually fail to develop a well-rounded
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