To access extended pro and con arguments, sources, and discussion questions about whether standardized tests improve education in the United States, go to ProCon.org.
Standardized tests have been a part of American education since the mid-1800s. Their use skyrocketed after 2002’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated annual testing in all 50 states. US students slipped from being ranked 18th in the world in math in 2000 to 40th in 2015, and from 14th to 25th in science and from 15th to 24th in reading. Failures in the education system have been blamed on rising poverty levels, teacher quality, tenure policies, and, increasingly, on the pervasive use of standardized tests.
Standardized tests are defined by W. James Popham, EdD, former President of the American Educational Research Association, as “any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner.” The tests often have multiple-choice questions that can be quickly graded by automated test scoring machines. Some tests also incorporate open-ended questions that require human grading.
While many kinds of standardized tests are in use, high-stakes achievement tests have provoked the most controversy. These assessments carry important consequences for students, teachers and schools: low scores can prevent a student from progressing to the next grade level, or lead to teacher firings and school closures, while high scores ensure continued federal and local funding and are used to reward teachers and administrators with bonus payments.
Standardized testing in the US has been estimated to be a multi-billion-dollar industry, though proponents have accused opponents of exaggerating its size. The largest test publishers include NCS Pearson, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Riverside Publishing, and Educational Testing Service (ETS).
PRO
- Standardized tests offer an objective measurement of education and a good metric to gauge areas for improvement.
- Standardized tests offer meaningful data to help students in marginalized groups.
- Standardized tests are useful metrics for teacher evaluations.
- Standardized tests scores are good indicators of college and job success.
CON
- Standardized tests only determine which students are good at taking tests, offer no meaningful measure of progress, and have not improved student performance.
- Standardized tests are racist, classist, and sexist.
- Standardized tests are unfair metrics for teacher evaluations.
- Standardized tests scores are not predictors of future success.
This article was published on December 7, 2020, at Britannica’s ProCon.org, a nonpartisan issue-information source.