In a country the size of the United States, comprised of 50 individual states, having a standard of education that meets the requirements of all and is on par with the world is a difficult task. Education, left mainly for the states to legislate, is coming under more and more federal influence recently as part of a global scheme for world standardization. Standards must be set while finding a compromise between the most rigorous schools and the greatly underfunded schools. Federal initiatives have put requirements on schools that are unrealistic, derogatory and burdensome on education. These strives in education have put the focus on test-taking in hopes of scoring better on a global scale. However, the focus of education in America should be on providing a more reliable education to students and growing students emotionally.

Every student in the United States has to take some kind of standardized test during their schooling and often times high stakes are attached to these scores. These tests are designed to measure the progress of children through their educational career and to see where some schools may fall short, without taking into account what the schools may be covering in depth or not. In addition, these tests do not measure what the child actually learns in school, but rather what they have been exposed to through rote memorization. This sets the student up for future failure. Inner city children are at a greater disadvantage because of inadequate funding from local, state, and federal sources, a cycle that will continue because without high test scores, more money will not be allocated to them.

One of the drawbacks of the standardizes tests are the subjects covered. Some studies have even shown that most curricula are based around white and eurocentric thinking, making learning harder for those with non-white backgrounds. The same standardized tests are used for all students not taking into account background, environment, and community. Where there is no standard background for all students there can not be a standard across board for testing their knowledge. The problem is that these tests are not good indicators of what is learned by the students or even what is taught by the teachers. The entire system is based on competition and evaluation. This does not foster “a culture of learning” that needs to prevail in schools. With all the tests, the message that comes across is that education is not for learning; instead it is used as a measure of one school against another, one state to another and even beyond national testing, scores are compared across the world. More stress is placed upon students to perform well on these tests so as to make the United States look better in comparison to other (first world) countries. Education falls mostly to the state to administer which makes international test scores tricky.

Assessments are just one way in which to see what progress is made from grade-to-grade, yet this is the only way across the nation that students and schools are held accountable. While these tests have shown that with higher expectations, students do rise to the challenge and perform better it is questionable whether students are learning more or just learning how to take tests better. Parts of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), those dealing with preschool and kindergarten, recognize the necessity of social growth along with learning. After kindergarten that focus is lost. Instead we are left with many aspects of the NCLB that reinforce low standards and punishments for schools that do not reach standards instead of rewards for those that surpass them. The standardized tests do not measure growth and progress but focus merely on pass-fail outcomes in absolute terms. To correct these failings, reforms are requiring states to have high standards for graduation, rewarding those districts that show improvement, especially in low-income areas. While NCLB has eventually made schools more accountable for a rigorous curriculum, it still does not inspire motivation for lifelong learning.

With an assessment system which requires yearly testing, the focus of teaching is to ensure students can pass standardized and year-end tests. Current education programs are about student performance on tests and having consequences for both student and school based on the results. Even where there are low-performing schools, states do not have to step in to help improve the system but can decide to shut down, take over, or implement penalties on the struggling school. These tests are not about what the students learn, they are about how well they are taught to take tests. More time in the classroom is devoted to teaching test-taking skills than is given to other kinds of learning, putting at risk students' progress from grade to grade and even graduation.

All hope is not lost though. Some schools, such as Montessori, focuses more on collaboration to get work done rather than on grades and competition. They have found that to create a well rounded student, one that performs well on assessments (when given) but also well behaved and able to work creatively in a group, intrinsic motivation is required. This motivation is fostered in an environment where the child has more choice and less rigid guidelines. The education philosophy followed by these schools focuses mainly on elementary grades, but has also found success in middle schools. If these ideals are able to be modified to fit a high school environment and worked into a diploma earning course, I believe it would lead to more successful college students and a more community centered workforce. The students from Montessori schools performed just as well as those who attended traditional school but formed habits and behaviors that would give them an edge beyond their primary education. These schools are just one example of how standardized tests are not the only way to hold students accountable and that the tests are actually stunting them.

Standardized tests are important, but only to an extent. They can measure how much a student has learned but not the way in which they have learned nor the social and emotional level of that or any other student. Often times the laws that have been enacted to help students achieve more have accomplished the opposite, lowering standards and cheapening education. Education needs to be about the student as an entire human being, not just as a test score.