Explain the negative consequences of standardized testing

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Large-scale, standardized assessments in each American state that are aligned with Common Core State Standards dominate public education. Required first by No Child Left Behind Act (2002) and the by Race to the Top Funding (2011), these traditional-style assessments may not have any particular relevance to the nature of the instruction in a given class in a specific school. Because of this, critics argue that the data gathered from these large-scale assessments are not that reliable. In any case, these tests tell you only a little of what you need to know about your students' learning. Good teaching requires that we seek multiple ways to find out what students know and are able to do in a given area of content.
Because standardized tests are given to broad populations of students, it is often difficult for test makers to consider the variations in students' geography and learning experiences. As a result, standardized tests, often criticized by educators because one size does not fit all, usually represent a small sample of what is important in a subject area. When you think about Bloom's Taxonomy, you can imagine how frequently the questions on these tests ask the students to "recall, remember, or repeat" what they know. Critics believe it is difficult for standardized tests to assess higher levels of cognitive function. As well, they often represent a single-assessment experience, which can result in getting an incomplete measure of students' understanding.