Standardized tests are the tests every student loved when they were younger because they were able to fill in the bubbles, which was always fun for some reason. This idea, as the student became older, was no longer what they thought of standardized testing. Instead they became the bane of their existence. Students today stress too much about state and national standardized tests such as the ACT or Iowa Assessments. These state and national tests should be nullified and should no longer be used to track student performance in participating schools. Many alternative options to state and national standardized tests are available. Schools should use these other options to their advantage.
Instead of showing that a student can work out a problem correctly, the test gives them the capability to just randomly fill out the answer sheet or guess the correct answer. The students may have learned how to do, for instance, a math problem, but when the test comes out they may rush or guess. It may be because they need to meet the sometimes outrageous time limit, or simply because the test layout isn’t appealing anymore and they frankly don’t care. …show more content…
(Pollard) He states, most teachers do not need to rely on the test scores to see how the students are doing in certain subjects. Teachers have a daily interaction with students and can tell if students understand things fully. Students can create a “portfolio” of course work they have completed throughout the term or year to have an assessment to see what they are capable of or what they struggle in. Pollard believes the portfolio idea is much more effective than standardized test scores. Instead of having the tests communicate a student’s performance to the parent, schools should rely on the teachers, who interact with the student’s daily, to relay the performance tracking to the parents.