standardized testing

Standardized Tests, exams designed to objectively measure the academic aptitude of students from varying social backgrounds and with different educational experience. Students in the United States take standardized tests in elementary school, in high school, and at the undergraduate and graduate levels of higher education. Most standardized tests are administered through the Educational Testing Service (ETS) or the American College Testing (ACT) Program. Educational institutions use the results of standardized tests to evaluate a student’…

…is an hour not spent helping kids become critical, creative, curious thinkers,” says Alfie Kohn, author of The Schools Our Children Deserve (74). Furthermore, an increasing number of states are still developing specific academic standards and are administering high-stakes tests to assess student adherence to those standards. In 2000, every public school student in the U.S. will likely take at least one standardized test, according to the AFT. Yet standards and tests continue to evolve (Hillard 294).