Standardized Testing

The beginning of chapter 32 summarized my feelings about standardized testing: "standardization reduces the quality and quantity of what is taught and learned in schools"....and "over the long term, standardization creates inequalities, widening the gap between the quality of education for poor and minority youth and that of more priveledged students" (505). These two quotes not only grabbed by immediate attention, but I believe them to be extremely true. I'm sure we all can agree, as pre-service teachers, that standardized tests are not only unfair, but truly do limits the content delieved from the curriculum. I can't even count the number of times teachers have skipped over great lessons, or minimized other creative lessons, just to make sure they teach what will be on the test. From the teacher's point of view, I can understand wanting to prepare your students as best as possible for the dreaded test...but really? what does it test?

Do these standardized test really test our student's knoweldge/abilities? I remember when I took the Praxis I, my lowest score was the writing section -an English student. I was shocked, because my math score was the highest. I've always been horrible at math during high school and college, and always excelled in my English classes. This really opened my eyes as to how unaccurate these tests can be.....