Standardized Testing

            Throughout history the Public School System never made it mandatory to have their students take national standardized test. This particular issue is under fire from many different angles. National testing should be implemented in public schools but not to the extent when failure occurs the student will be left back in the school system. Some think the testing will be beneficial to students, however most feel that it will be detrimental to the learning process.
             The definition of the word test is "a basis for evaluation or judgment." This is exactly how these standardized tests should be used, as a basis. A basis of how to make the Public School System more efficient, as opposed to a basis of whether or not a student should or should not pass a certain grade. "Standardized testing is currently used to the accountability function of using student scores to assess the effectiveness of teachers, schools, and even entire districts. (Robinson and Craver 1989). .
             There are a vast amount of ways for a student's progress to be assessed in a classroom with standardized testing being just one of the procedures. The other major assessment tool is the teacher's evaluation of the student. "Non- assessment is the traditional form of assessment within classrooms. Teachers construct questions, evaluate student responses, assign and check homework, monitor projects, and informally assess student progress hundreds of times a day."(Sanders, Horn).
             Many non-advocates of standardized testing feel like this non standard assessment is the way to go in evaluating students, but just like most other methods this procedure has its" faults. "These assessments may be accurate or they may be faulty, depending upon the teacher's skill as a judge of various indicators and their applicability to the question at hand. However, unrelated factors can affect this type of assessment. For instance, research has shown that good handwriting can influence grading on essays Student behavior and appearance can likewise prejudice assessment.