Standardized testing happens every year to check if students are meeting the state’s standards. This type of testing has multiple different effects on students and teachers. 

Students seem to feel stressed out and perform differently than on an everyday kind of test. Standardized testing can seem scary because it is made out to be important and have lasting effects. 

“Anxiety is very common during testing time,” said Lori Brown, Integrated Math I teacher. Students also get anxiety and paranoid during testing time. 

“Standardized testing makes me feel weird because I’m being recorded over everything I do,” stated Cynthia Higinbotham, senior. 

A teacher’s attitude can influence students’ mindset and performance.  

“A teacher’s approach also affects how students see the test and can help with anxiety. The more teachers have students prepared the easier it is for students,” Brown claimed. Not all teachers are teaching at the pace of the standards; therefore, it can cause conflicts with testing.  

“Standardized testing isn’t always beneficial because students’ performance depends on what the teachers are teaching at the time,” Higinbotham said. 

Standardized testing does not only affect the students; it can also put a lot of stress on teachers. Testing happens too early, which makes teachers teach the material quicker. Testing can also affect a teacher’s evaluation grade.  

When COVID was at its prime, students got used to the relaxation of home and the easy busy work that was assigned. Teachers just recently had to break that habit of a slow-paced environment.  

“Students are used to the relaxation of COVID. As soon as we came back to school students had to quickly adjust to the fast-paced school environment. This year, especially in my class, we have been go, go, go,” Brown stated. 

This makes it hard for teachers to balance out the pace of the curriculum. Furthermore, standardized testing has its pros and cons. 

“Research shows that students learn better when they are held to higher standards for tests. Standardized testing does a good job at making the students think thoroughly and put pieces of their learning together,” Brown claimed.  

“The only good thing about it is that they have good information about students’ academic abilities. It can be useless because a lot of kids don’t care. Only students who want to take a test, such as the ACT for college credits, should have to take those kinds of tests,” explained Emma Petzak, sophomore. 

Both students and teachers believe that there should be a different way to test students.  

“Do a survey and have students say what they learned that year and have students reflect on themselves. It would also be a great opportunity for teachers to see if their teaching style is beneficial to students,” suggested Higinbotham. Brown made a more personal proposal. 

“The most efficient way to test a student’s abilities is to have one on one reflections. Though, this is unrealistic due to the lack of resources,” Brown stated. Testing is not as beneficial to students as some may think.  

“Standardized testing makes students way too stressed out. I get that it’s necessary but not the best way. It brings very little benefit,” Petzak claimed. 

Standardized testing affects students and teachers in many ways. But not all effects are bad, some are beneficial to both parties and the school system. Standardized testing can be stressful but with effort and preparation, students can succeed.