What are some Pros?

As I stated in my previous post, there are some pros to standardized tests. Before I begin, I do not want anyone to think that I am 100% knocking standardized tests. I believe there are some pros, however, I believe that the cons out way the pros. We will talk about the cons in a later post. As for today, we are going to talk about the pros. After doing some research, I found a few pros that I wanted to talk about. The first one is the fact that the multiple-choice format used on standardized test produces accurate information necessary to assess and improve American schools. “According to the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, multiple-choice questions can provide “highly reliable test scores” and an “objective measurement of student achievement.” Also, the Center for Public Education, a national public school advocacy group, says “many multiple-choice tests now require considerable thought, even notes and calculations, before choosing a bubble.” I agree with this to some extent. I do like multiple choice questions, except for when you are given two answers that could both be right. This causes you to not know which one to choose, then the next thing you know you have spent 20 minutes on one question. Multiple-choice is better for teachers, because they can use a machine to score the tests instead of having to sit there and read every question and then the answer you wrote. The other pro that I want to talk about is that stricter standards and increased testing are better preparing students for college. Many people believe that the more standardized tests that are given, the more prepared students will be for college. I do agree that High School students need to understand how to do certain things before entering college, but I do not feel as if a standardized test is going to prepare someone for college. There will always be a battle between whether standardized tests are good or bad. Continue to read my blog to find out more information on standardized tests. Until next week.

-K