Skip to main content

Standardized Testing

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Educational Trauma
  • 1028 Accesses

Abstract

Standardized testing holds an important and pivotal role in education. It is not only used to gauge student performance, but also directly tied to federal funds and grants. At a time when one of the prevailing concerns schools hold is around inadequate financial budgets, the opportunity to access further funding by demonstrating success in test scores becomes a priority to schools. The stress, pressure, and tension that trickle down to students through staff is serious, intense, and disconcerting. Worse yet, standardized testing is flawed as a measure of student ability and has origins in eugenics. Furthermore, whether intended or not, the use of standardized testing reinforces the discrimination and disadvantage that minority students face, such as whom is profiled for the Youth Correctional Complex (YCC; Rios, 2011).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • American College Health Association. (2017). Undergraduate student reference group data report. Retrieved August 17, 2018, from American College Health Association website: https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/NCHA-II_FALL_2017_REFERENCE_GROUP_DATA_REPORT_UNDERGRADS_ONLY.pdf.

  • Association for University College Counseling Center Directors. (2016). AUCCCD 2016 monograph. Retrieved August 17, 2018, from AUCCCD website: https://www.aucccd.org/assets/documents/aucccd%202016%20monograph%20-%20public.pdf.

  • Denizet-Lewis, B. (2017, October 17). Why are more American teenagers than ever suffering from severe anxiety? New York Times. Retrieved June 30, 2018, from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/magazine/why-are-more-american-teenagers-than-ever-suffering-from-severe-anxiety.html.

  • Harris, P., Harris, J., & Smith, B. M. (2012). Standardized tests do not effectively measure student achievement. In D. Bryfonski (Ed.), Standardized Testing. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. At Issue. Rpt. from “Chapter 3: The tests don’t measure achievement adequately.” The Myths of Standardized Tests: Why They Don’t Tell You What You Think They Do, 33–45 (2011). Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jencks, C., & Phillips, M. (1998). The black-white test score gap. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ravitch, D. (2016). The death and life of the great American school system: How testing and choice are undermining education. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rios, V. M. (2011). Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys. New York, NY: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, F. (2001). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): Basic principles, protocols, and procedures (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, T. L. (1975). Third annual conference of the society of ethnic and special studies. Atlanta, GA. Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED141467.

  • Tanner, J. (2011). Missing the mark: What test scores really tell us. School Administrator, 68(9), 12–16.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gray, LA. (2019). Standardized Testing. In: Educational Trauma. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28083-3_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28083-3_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-28082-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-28083-3

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics