Question: Please discuss your view of standardized testing.
Since being exposed to standardized testing, with the Connecticut Mastery Test in 3rd grade. I've always wondered, what was the purpose of taking a mandated test? Which essentially is wasting time, where the student could be learning new skills in the class room; now that I"m in high school, I see that these tests can do more harm than good. For example students whom don't do very well on the test can face retention in grade, fail a core class, or be put in a "watered down" class.
Standardized tests are not very helpful for evaluation, as the persons answer the same questions usually in the multiple choice format where each question only has one right answer. In the SAT's the test taker is rewarded for quickly answering the questions, but these tests don't measure the ability of the test takers intelligence. .
The IQ test for example, is a test that measures intelligence and puts it on a scale. They [IQ test people} assume that your IQ is set. Though studies by psychologists show that there is no one thing that is called intelligence or that a person's intelligence is fixed or a way to successfully measure it. The outcome of an IQ test can be changed by eating and better preparation for the examination. So basically at the end of the day the IQ test is just another achievement test which test what the person has been exposed to.
Standardized tests are only reliable if you can get the same results on the second time you try the test. Which makes these tests inaccurate; because you can improve each time you take the test which makes these tests highly unreliable to decide whether a student is capable of continuing to the next grade or staying back. Students are the ones who are often the ones who suffer from these tests, because as schools place students in classes according to tests scores, and often the students whom perform unsatisfactory on the test are put in dummied classes and puts them further behind their peers.
