Standardized Testing

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income students. The researchers found that the higher income students had thicker brain cortex in areas associated with visual perception and knowledge accumulation. The Harvard and MIT researchers estimate that the differences in cortical thickness of these brain regions could account for as much as 44 percent of the income achievement gap found in this study.

Lastly, standardized tests can cause students to cheat. Grades, rather than education, have become the major focus of many students. Students know that these tests can affect their futures so they do whatever that can do to pass them.  Statistics show that cheating among high-school and college students has risen dramatically during the past 50 years.

According to the results of a 1998 survey of 20,829 middle and high school students nationwide conducted by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, 70% of high school students and 54% of middle school students said they had cheated on an exam in the last 12 months. According to Josephson, the same question asked of high schoolers in 1996 prompted 64% to admit they had cheated. This demonstrates a 6% increase in only two years. Students feel obligated to cheat because they know that if they don’t get a good grade, they won’t get into a good college and most likely they won’t have a successful life.

    In conclusion,  Standardized tests are culturally biased, unfair, and promote cheating in students; therefore, these tests must be changed. Many people believe that standardized testing provides an accurate measurement of student performance and teacher effectiveness. Others believe that standardized testing only evaluates the individual performance of the student instead of the overall growth of that student over the course of the year.

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