Do you remember taking standardized tests as a child? Of course. I'm sure you remember the stress, tension, and preparations you and your teacher went through. Well, I believe we should eliminate standardized testing because it has been proven that standardized testing does not improve student achievement, that standardized testing is unreliable as a form of measuring students, and that America is currently facing a creativity crisis as standardized testing and the Common Core Curriculum "dumb down" today's young American students, which in turn could jeopardize the country's economic future. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay It has been proven that standardized tests do not improve student achievement and, in fact, only cause more stress. After the passage of NCLB (No Child Left Behind) in 2002, the United States went from 18th place in the world in mathematics in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009 , with a similar decline in science and no change in reading (Washington Post)(Coulson)(Walker). A May 26, 2011 National Research Council report found no evidence that test-based incentive programs work: "Despite their use for several decades, policymakers and educators still do not know how to use the test-based incentives to systematically generate positive effects on achievement and to improve education” (National Research Council Committee on Test-Based Incentives and Accountability in Public Education). proven that standardized tests are not a reliable measure of student achievement There is a famous quote by Albert Einstein that I This is very true for this reason. genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its entire life believing that it is stupid” This means that everyone is intelligent in their own way A study published in 2001 by the Brookings Institution. found that 50 to 80 percent of year-over-year improvements in test scores were temporary and “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with the long term.” changes in learning..." (Olson). If you didn't know, America is currently facing a creative crisis in which curriculum we haven't implemented is silencing the creativity of its students, essentially making them "dumber," which could jeopardize our country's economic future A 2010 study by the College of William & Mary found that Americans' scores on the creative thinking test. of Torrance have fallen since 1990, and researcher Kyung-Hee Kim places part of the blame on the increase in standardized testing: “If we are neglecting creative students in school because of the structure and testing movement. ...then they become underachievers" (Zagursky). Some may say that "teaching to the test" can be a good thing because it focuses on essential content and skills, eliminates time-consuming activities that do not produce learning gains and motivate students to excel. But in reality, the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) tests significantly shrink the curriculum. A 2007 national study by the Center on Education Policy found that since 2001, 44 percent of school districts had reduced the amount of time devoted to..