Standardized Testing In Public Schools

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Education has always been viewed as the pathway to success in the American culture. The current educational system works as a way for future employers and colleges to see how well students perform in classroom primarily by the students’ scores on standardized tests. Standardized testing has long been a part of the public school system which enables teachers and administrators to track the progress of students, though I believe that it is an ineffective way to measure the so called “success” of a student.
Standardized testing first started after World War I but did not become very widespread like it is now until the 1970’s. Originally, standardized tests were used for immigration as a way for immigrants to find social identity. They are used in the same manner in schools. Teachers use these tests to track the progress of each student, to determine if they are learning the given material and to find the students’ strengths and weaknesses. Both teachers and students can use this information to help fill the holes in each student’s education, which in turn creates a more successful student.
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“A typical student takes 112 mandated standardized tests between pre-kindergarten classes and 12th grade” (Lyndsey). That comes out to be a shocking amount of eight tests per year. This amount would seem to be stressful on any human being, let alone young students. The number of standardized tests given should be dramatically decreased in order to see a more accurate round of results. Just think, if students would not have to worry about taking some of these tests than they could focus on actually grasping and understanding the