Standardized Testing in Elementary Schools

Standardized testing...everyone has an opinion, whether positive or negative. Standardized testing is essentially a way to measure and compare students' skills or abilities at a given point under controlled conditions. These tests are administered and scored by a standard measure, usually a machine. The same test is given, the same time allotment is given, and the tests are graded in the same way. Standardized testing has become a prevalent issue in public schools in recent years with educators and parents split on whether they do more harm than good.

Bubbling in answers on a bubble sheet

I believe that standardized testing can be a useful tool to use occasionally. When teachers begin to teach so their students do well on a test rather than teaching to make sure students understand a concept is where there become discrepancies. Teachers begin to "teach the test" instead of teaching the material to the students. I think that standardized tests can be beneficial to get statistics to see where children have missing parts in a curriculum, but that should not be the teacher's focus. If teachers teach the material that they have to according to their curriculum and standards, then children should be able to excel when taking a standardized test. This is where there is a crossroad between teachers versus the state requirements.

Standardized testing has and will continue to cause conflict within school systems between administrators, teachers, and parents. Standardized testing provides statistics in order to see where students are at in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning. These tests do not measure students' natural abilities though, and should not be used as an indicator of intelligence level. That is when teachers feel the pressure to "teach the test" instead of teaching the students.  School systems and parents should look at standardized testing as a data checkpoint that can provide helpful feedback.