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Standardized Testing Horace Mann

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Standardized Testing: Reduce the Reliance
In the year of 1845, Horace Mann proposed the idea of written exams, as opposed to the traditional oral exam. Mann wanted to achieve the discovery of new and innovative teaching methods to ensure that students were receiving the best education, as well as equal opportunities in school. Despite the educational pioneer’s suggestion of promising unsurpassed schooling through written exams, these standardized assessments became something much more intense than what Mann had planned (Gershon). From students receiving one-hundred and thirteen standardized assessments throughout their entire schooling career to spending twenty to twenty-five hours of wasted classroom time taking these assessments, education …show more content…
The disputable and contentious question arises through these facts: Should each state government in the United States enact laws reducing the number of mandated standardized tests for its students? If one chooses to answer “no”, consider the limitations to these standardized assessments. Mental health is affected, and although parents are assured of accurate results, are the final marks truly precise?
It is seemingly and understandably known that high-stakes and standardized assessments come as a packaged deal. Harmful stress is placed upon several students each year due to these mandated standardized tests. Scholars are not only required to demonstrate their knowledge of material, but they also feel pressured to prove themselves to their teachers, schools, and parents. These factors can greatly contribute to test-taking anxiety, which can often result in lack …show more content…
Often times, standardized assessments evaluate a student’s performance on one particular day and do not take into account any external factors, which does not make for accurate results. The lack of sleep students may receive the day before a test, or the loss of self-esteem that may result from a poor score, influences a student’s performance greatly, which does not make for accurate data for a test that claims to collect information that tells what subject areas a student is struggling in (Cox). With the strict time limit of these assessments, it has several individuals pondering whether the tests can actually determine a student’s success. However, the answer is clear that one assessment does not evaluate a student’s capability to succeed. Standardized assessments educate students on how to memorize material in subject areas including English, Math, and Social Studies. The tests simply do not teach students how to retain material. Students are required to fill in a bubble based on what they believe is the best answer, under the pressure of having only a couple of seconds per question to complete the assessment. This can tie into the stress element, in which a student has limited time to complete a questionnaire. Ultimately, this can result in the incorrect answer, although there is a

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