Standardized Testing:Effectively Lowering the Standards

Children are not learning, according to standardized test scores. The government, parents, and teachers are at odds as to why this is. They all share a common goal: to give our children the best education possible, but there are many different ideas as to how this should be accomplished. Throughout all the many debates on this topic one militant voice rises above the crowd, in support of standardized testing, shouting oddly vague catch phrases such as “accountability,” “raising the bar,” and “tougher standards.” The problem with standardized testing, however, is that it misunderstands almost everything about education, including motivation, teaching, and evaluation.
The most blatant forms of motivation, namely bribes and threats, are ultimately more harmful than helpful. Some schools use diplomas as both a way of bribing and of threatening students to do well on standardized tests. Not only is this unfair, but it is destructive. When students are told that they ...