Standardized Tests: Important or Irrelevant?
In our lifetime, we have all taken some form of a standardized test. The main question I want to go into is why are they so important? I remember taking them as early as first grade and every year thereafter. I always wondered why teachers placed great emphasis on them and it wasn’t until I was preparing to take my HSPT and eventually my SAT to really understand why. Standardized tests, like the SOLs in Virginia, are used as a benchmark to ensure students are on grade level with their learning. These types of tests can also serve as an informal evaluation for teachers. For those reasons, these tests are high stakes. To further your education, you need to take a standardized entrance exam like the SAT or ACT. It is believed that the better you do on these tests, the more successful you will be in college and after. You may then ask how do these high stakes tests determine success? Well, they really don’t. I know off of personal experience students who score high