Persuasive Paper

Hernan Martinez
Com 110, Section 049
Chad Woolard

Standardized Testing Elimination
Purpose: To persuade the audience to support the elimination of standardized testing.
Thesis: Standardized testing should be eliminated from all schools, at all levels.
Claim: Education
Organizational Pattern: Problem-Solution
I. Introduction
A. Attention Getter: So what exactly is a ‘standardized test’? It’s a test where everything from the questions to the scoring is the same for all test takers.
B. Relevance: Ever since the phrase “a number does not define me,” the standardized testing controversy has been shrouded with the possibility of complete elimination from our modern education system. According to the Washington Post, After No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, the US slipped from 18th in the world in math on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in reading.
C. Credibility: I was once a student that had to go through the numerous days of ISAT testing in elementary school that felt like it would never end. I stressed over the ACT for weeks when it does not even have an effect on my life anymore.
D. Thesis: Standardized testing should be eliminated in the United States because it does not improve student achievement.
E. Preview: For a better understanding why every state should eliminate standardized testing, I will state the flaws of the standardized testing and the negative impact it has.
Transition: First, I will state why it is only hurting the education of states and not benefitting them.
II. Body
A. Investing into standardized testing is putting a financial burden on the states.
1. According to the Stateline website, Following the passage of NCLB on Jan. 8, 2002, annual state spending on standardized tests rose from $423 million to almost $1.1 billion in 2008 (a 160% increase compared to a 19.22% increase in inflation over the same period), according to the Pew Center on the States.
Transition: Students health is being seriously damaged. B. Standardized testing overwhelms too many students.
1. According to

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