Standardized testing has been a commonplace part of education for a long time, and they aim to fulfill an important goal. This is to “identify students who need special-education services or specialized academic support.” This is crucial for a student’s future success both academically and outside of school. However, these tests’ true reliability and accuracy when considering a student for various academic opportunities is alarmingly flawed. 

A student’s performance on a test varies widely depending on many outside factors typically out of their control. Standardized testing also promotes a mindset for students that they cannot make mistakes, as making mistakes would lead to a poor test score. This makes it impossible for a student to learn and grow from their mistakes. Standardized testing is inaccurately judging and harming student’s capabilities. 

Standardized testing results often fail to accurately show a student’s best needs to succeed due to the results from the tests being based far too often on factors that students cannot fully control. More specifically, these test results “are easily influenced by outside factors: stress, hunger, tiredness, and prior teacher or parent comments about the difficulty of the test, among other factors.” If the scores a student gets on a standardized test are so easily influenced by everyday annoyances and struggles that people all go through, then they are undoubtedly flawed. There are a plethora of surveys available as well that all share the same common ground that more sleep equates to better grades. If a student didn’t get a good night of sleep before a test and did poorly because of it, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t know the information on the test, but simply could mean they couldn’t get enough sleep. Their results on the test would then not accurately reflect what they need for future success.

Making mistakes has become something that is discouraged by all students thanks to the inefficiency of standardized tests. Making mistakes is an essential part of learning, as it teaches you how to recoup after making a mistake. This of course is detrimental in the real world for success as it is suffice to say that everyone makes mistakes. These standardized tests completely make the idea of embracing making mistakes out the window, as students “have just this one chance at getting it right.” When students are punished for making a mistake by receiving a low test score, it promotes a mindset that they cannot make mistakes, and makes them afraid of mistakes. Thus, making it impossible for them to learn and grow from them.

Although the goal of standardized tests is one that is important for all students, its execution is poor to the point of harming students more than helping them. Outside factors such as little sleep can make a student perform far worse than they initially would have on a standardized test, and student’s potential abilities and skills are severely hindered by standardized tests, as they make students afraid to make mistakes. This makes the point that standardized tests fulfill an important goal of giving students academic help and benefits that suit them the best a groundless argument, as it clearly does not make these judgements accurately. 

Far too often, schools, teachers, and students have been the ones to blame for student’s shortcomings. This blame game has resulted in no change whatsoever. Clearly, something needs to change, and this should unquestionably be standardized testing. This damaging and net negative system of judging students has been used for far too long. It’s more than past time to seriously rethink standardized testing.

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