You’ve been studying for weeks and the stakes couldn’t be higher. You get up like a half dead zombie, and walking into school that morning you realize you’re exhausted, maybe because you couldn’t fall asleep until 3AM because of the big standardized test looming in your way. Do standardized tests cause more good or harm in the world of education?

The subject is very controversial, with teachers, administrators, students, and researchers all divided on this question. Although next-to-none research exists on if standardized tests affect classroom instruction, many believe it does. The majority of state and district officials report that the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act signed in 2002 require them to change their curriculums to focus on math and reading rather than subjects like social studies, the arts or science. This sheer fact leads many to believe that some teachers just “teach the test” these days. However, 73% of teachers cite that standardized testing has not affected their teaching. Per the Center for Public Education, 79% of teachers believe that standardized testing has a negative impact on their classroom environment. I’d bet that 100% of students would say the same thing! With state administrators setting the curriculum to “teach the test,” per se, it could harm students in limiting their educational abilities.

Do students feel standardized tests measure their and their peers abilities accurately? Vanessa Massenat, sophomore at Page, says: “No. Some people just aren’t good test-takers… It’s just not fair to people who aren’t good at taking tests or can’t concentrate.” Rachel Fields, senior at Page, says: “No. Because they [students] could have other abilities besides academics. Some people also get anxiety doing timed tests.”. Taylor Adams, also a senior at Page, says “I feel like standardized testing does not accurately measure all students intellectual abilities the same because it can limit certain students who don’t test well but are great students and vice-versa.” Landon Spivey, senior at Page, had a different opinion. “A standardized test does accurately measure someone’s intelligence. Standardization in itself is the process of generating tests that accurately represent the entire population of test-takers.”

I have concluded that standardized tests may not measure the whole student population the same like a yardstick measures things because of test anxiety, different student abilities, and the pressure of being timed. However, standardized testing is the best method we have at this time in education to measure and compare students’ abilities, so I say we stick with it.