Although there have been standardized tests since the time of the Han Dynasty in China and since the Industrial Revolution in the Western World, students have never been tested like they are now. Even with the advent of tests such as the SAT in 1926 and the ACT in 1959, students did not take a yearly standardized test.  However, that all changed with the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. With this act came the development of state mandated standardized tests for nearly every grade level.

Standardized tests are not necessarily bad, but I believe what they bring with them is. When teachers must teach to a test, they must give up their ability to slow down to help someone understand a concept and they must give up their creativity. In the school year, teachers are pressed for time trying to teach their students all that they need for the next grade, but now with standardized tests, which take place about a month before school actually ends, teachers are under even more time restraints. They have almost zero time to help students who do not understand a concept, besides outside of normal school hours, but not all students can make it too morning or afternoon tutorial hours. This causes them to be left behind, the absolute opposite of what standardized tests were meant to help alleviate. In addition, because of the intense time restraints, teachers are unable to include creative, enriching projects and activities that help students better understand the topics, making the class more bland and frankly, boring.

The faults of standardizing tests are exemplified with the new curriculum standardization pushed by DeKalb County. Yes, there are some advantages to this new system, the most profound being that students who change schools in the county will not miss any content, but I believe the negatives outweigh the advantages greatly. By forcing teachers to teach everything in a certain order, using certain materials, teachers’ creativity is suppressed even more, especially in the literature department. Now, literature teachers must teach using certain books that they have never taught from before and/or may not particularly like. In turn, teachers’ enjoyment of their job could decrease, which would most likely lead to them becoming less effective teachers.

In our country’s vain attempt to become a more competitive nation in terms of education, we have done the complete opposite. School districts are struggling to fill vacancies, and more students than ever are falling behind in school. If we truly want to better our education system, we need to turn away from the standardized tests and curriculum. I think we should take a lesson or two from Finland, a country with some of the highest performing students, but also barely any standardized tests.