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Students often face high levels of stress, from pressure related to college admissions to the demands of school more generally. … It will argue that standardized testing contributes to student stress for many students and that there are signs indicating that test-related stress has worsened in recent years.
Negative consequences include the loss of valuable opportunities to learn due to testing preparation, the narrowing of curriculum to focus on tested standards, and the stigmatization of students and schools as failing or in need of intervention based on faulty interpretations of what test scores actually mean.
“Stressed elementary students in grades two through four tend to show emotional stress behaviors such as crying, throwing tantrums, wetting themselves, and vomiting,” says Tim Urdan, an assistant professor of psychology at Santa Clara University.
Exam stress can lead to many different mental illnesses, like depression and anxiety, panic attacks, low self-esteem, self-harming and suicidal thoughts and worsening of pre-existing mental health conditions.
For some students, standardized testing is causing a lot of stress and anxiety because they’re constantly studying. Some teachers are saying it’s too much and it’s taking away from their social skills. Mother of two, Josi Cook says her middle and high school students hit the books often.
Opponents argue that standardized tests only determine which students are good at taking tests, offer no meaningful measure of progress, and have not improved student performance, and that the tests are racist, classist, and sexist, with scores that are not predictors of future success.
Unnecessary standardized testing reduces critical instructional time. That means less time for classroom instruction or enriching subjects like music, art, and ethnic studies. Low-income students of color are the most impacted by standardized tests, and English language learners take a much higher percentage of tests.
Studies have shown that standardized test scores are not a good predictor for teacher effectiveness, yet most states use them as an evaluative tool for teachers. … Such a system that punishes and rewards teachers based on test scores won’t contribute to better education for students.
Test anxiety doesn’t just affect students during their test; test anxiety can also affect students as they prepare for the exam. This can cause poor understanding and association of content, which inhibit the student’s ability to recall information.
Testing with feedback produces the strongest positive effect on achievement. Adding stakes or frequency also strongly and positively affects achievement. Survey studies produce effect sizes above 1.0. Ninety-three percent of qualitative studies analyzed also reported positive effects.
While not perfect, state standardized tests give us something critically important—comparable data based on state learning standards—that allow us to make informed decisions about student, school and district level needs.
A lot of classroom time is dedicated to preparing for these tests and giving them. Results are affected by dozens of variables that we can’t control: illness, hunger, sleep deprivation, unfamiliar forms of a test, limited command of English.
A 2016 report from the Center on Education Policy found that 81% of teachers felt their students spent too much time on standardized testing, and I am one of them. Another harsh reality of testing is that the majority of the days we lose are to testing for math, reading, and writing.
Standardized tests may help schools determine where a student lies on the education spectrum, but they do not accurately represent every students full potential depending on their ability to take tests, and excel on them.
According to a 2018 article in The Classroom standardized test results can affect school funding and some districts may link teacher pay to standardized test scores. … Individual states would reportedly be allowed to give the exams remotely, shorten them or even delay giving the tests until next summer or fall.
A new study suggests that changes in levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, during weeks of standardized testing hurt how students in one New Orleans charter school network performed — and kids coming from more stressful neighborhoods, with lower incomes and more incidents of violence, were most affected …
Standardized tests force students to perform under extreme pressure and can lead to a host of mental issues including low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. As a direct result of their increased stress levels, students can begin to feel more and more resentful toward the education system.
This type of anxiety is more common than most may realize. According to the American Test Anxieties Association, about 16 to 20 percent of students have high test anxiety, with another 18 percent troubled by moderately high test anxiety.
Standardized tests can improve student motivation. When students are encouraged to set high goals for these tests, and are praised on their accomplishments afterwards, they feel like they are able to do better on tests and projects and assignments.
Standardized tests are used in psychology, as well as in everyday life, to measure intelligence, aptitude, achievement, personality, attitudes and interests. Attempts are made to standardize tests in order to eliminate biases that may result, consciously or unconsciously, from varied administration of the test.
Unfortunately, both parents and educators often ascribe far too much precision and accuracy to students’ scores on standardized achievement tests. Several factors might cause scores to flop about. … But standardized achievement tests should not be used to evaluate the quality of education.
Research shows they hurt poor students and students of color, while failing to predict success in college. For instance, studies show that students whose parents have more education and/or higher incomes do better on the tests. …
The testing shows the lowest 5%, and this lets the government know which schools need the most help. … Low-income families and communities have less resources available than the communities of high-income levels and standardized testing has played a roll when it comes to the academic achievement of low-income families.
To be fair, researchers, educators and psychologists say several factors are responsible for the spike; however, pressure from standardized testing is high on the list.
Poor study habits, poor past test performance, and an underlying anxiety problem can all contribute to test anxiety. Fear of failure: If you connect your sense of self-worth to your test scores, the pressure you put on yourself can cause severe test anxiety.
Test anxiety is a multidimensional construct (Pekrun, 2006): On a physiological level, test anxious students might experience sweating, palpitations, trembling, and nausea. Cognitively, test anxiety comes along with specific worry thoughts including negative cognitive self-statements regarding academic failure.
Answer: To take a standardized test such as the PSAT or PLAN, students must have a(n) admission ticket or registration confirmation.
Conclusion: High-stakes testing does not improve education.
It drives students and teachers away from learning, and at times from school. It narrows, distorts, weakens and impoverishes the curriculum while fostering forms of instruction that fail to engage students or support high-quality learning.
Although the majority of unintended consequences are negative, researchers have found that high-stakes tests have some positive effects on education, including increased teacher professional development, better alignment of instruction with state content standards, more effective remediation programs for low-achieving …
Tests create accountability systems and encourage increased data collection. Tests may cause improved content standards, improved instruction, and improved student learning. They demonstrate student and school performance and progress to parents, teachers, administrators and policymakers.
Research and experience show that standardized tests are generally good at measuring students’ knowledge, skills, and understanding because they are objective, fair, efficient, and comprehensive. … When standardized tests are used appropriately, a great deal can be learned about how well schools function.
Standardized testing should slowly transition away from the college application process because a low test score for disadvantaged students becomes a barrier that limits access to higher education. … So it is unfair for such a vast group of students to face these barriers, put in front of them by the system.
First of all, standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance because they only measure a small portion of what makes education meaningful.
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