Against Standardized TestsThe deployment of standardized tests in American classrooms has been involved since the late 1800s. A standardized test is “any form of testing that requires all test takers to the test of answering the same questions, or a selection of questions from a common set of questions, in the same way, and which is scored in a “standard” or consistent way, which allows the relative performance of individual students or groups of students to be compared ” (Standardized Test). Standardized test scores are used to determine students' academic performance and also teachers' ability to teach them. However, there is a large margin of error that accompanies mass testing of pupils. Standardized testing removes creativity in the classroom, places extreme stress on both students and teachers, and costs enormous amounts of money with little return. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay "According to researcher Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, qualities that standardized tests cannot measure include "creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, dependability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline , leadership, civic sense, courage, compassion, resourcefulness, sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty, integrity" (standardized). All these aspects are crucial in the development of students, both in the classroom and in life, and are heavily neglected when educators begin to teach students as test-takers rather than as independent thinkers. Today, there is little time for creative thinking in mainstream classrooms due to the intense focus on analyzing and interpreting informational texts and on technical writing. Emphasizing these teaching practices is based on the idea that children most need to be exposed to real-world reading and writing in the workplace (Payne). The idea is that when students enter the work field, reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet will not give them an advantage in competing for jobs. Langston Hughes' poems will not help a young adult read and create important accounts. However, students who thrive on poetry, drama, classic literature, and fictional pieces starve themselves as they are taught to analyze test questions. Kyung-Hee Kim of William & Mary recently conducted a study titled “Creativity Crisis in America” (Zagursky). “While many schools focus on standardization and testing, students who don't get the best grades can still be extremely creative. If we neglect creative students in school because of the structure and movement of testing – creative students can't breathe, they are suffocated in school – then they will become underachieving students,” Kim said. Kim, who also studies high school dropout, added that he has found that creative people can overachieve, if their needs are met in the classroom and at home, or underachieve. Kim said that for creative students, the odds of dropping out increase by 52% if they are in the wrong school environment” (Zagursky). Tremendous stress is placed on students to perform to the best of their ability on standardized tests. Because teacher effectiveness is based largely on student scores, educators often begin in September reminding boys and girls of the importance of doing well on tests. During training for standardized tests, teachers meetregularly and pour over practice test data looking for evidence of standards where students appear to be weak. Then they re-teach those standards, bring the same missed questions back in front of the class, and go through them with a fine-toothed comb uncovering misconceptions for the highly missed questions. Teachers hold faculty meetings looking for effective tricks to teach students how to increase their chances of success by answering questions correctly. Teachers lose sleep, waking up after dreaming of students who didn't show up for tests or falling asleep during testing blocks. Parents are encouraged during testing to make sure their children get plenty of sleep and eat well-balanced breakfasts to boost scores. Test and practice packets are sent home for families to use for review (Payne). When children are asked what their least favorite part of school is, the answer is often test prep and testing in general. The stress placed on all stakeholders by standardized testing is enormous, not to mention, very expensive. “In a recent report released November 29 by the Washington-based Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution…Standardized testing regimes collectively cost about $1.7 billion per year” (Ujifusa) In 2011, Texas taxpayers paid approximately $93 million to test students (Martinez would think that this expensive education expense would be managed smoothly and efficiently to maximize effectiveness in the classroom). , thus having a small margin for error. However, it is the latter. Standardized testing companies are “notorious for making costly and time-consuming scoring errors” (Standardized). of New York identified a problem with English exams administered to 65,000 seventh-graders. Five questions resulted in the letters labeling the answers in the test booklet not matching those on the answer sheet. For example, the test notebooks listed F, G, H, or J as possible answers, while the answer sheets listed A, B, C, and D as options” (Errors). Another case in Connecticut “reported that its contractor, Harcourt, screwed up the scanning of student responses. The problem, Harcourt said, would delay score reporting by two to four weeks. This could cause Connecticut to miss the NCLB deadline for reporting scores by September 1. State Education Secretary Betty Sternberg said this could result in the state losing up to $1 million in federal funds. According to her, this would constitute a breach of contract. In February, Harcourt misreported the scores of approximately 350 students, resulting in an $80,000 fine from the state” (Errors). This money lost due to testing company errors could be used in many other useful ways. “So many students are deprived of classroom learning materials because schools simply don't have the funds to support them. Just like technology. Technology in our society is growing at exponential rates and teachers should be able to incorporate some of it into our classrooms. However, there are thousands of classrooms in America that still use the same blackboard and overhead projector that were used when I was in elementary school! Yet schools somehow have enough money in their budgets to afford to hand out tests that cost about $65 per student. There is no telling what students could achieve if we (educators).