The Double Effects of Standardized Testing on Students and Environment

Abstract

With the widespread use of standardized tests today, much of the understanding and research on standardized tests is based on specific effects and aspects. This paper discussed how standardized testing affects students as well as the surrounding community, including teachers and schools. By integrating the findings and analyses of previous studies, this paper argues that the effects of standardized tests are two-sided. There are serious negative effects caused by the standardized tests, such as test anxiety, teaching to the test, achievement gap, but it has positive effects on student learning too, such as making self-assessment, improve self-efficacy, and reducing forgetting. The reason to write this paper is because it will give decision-makers, researchers, and educators a better understanding of standardized tests and will aid them in using them more effectively. Previous studies had limitation in considering the complexity of participants and lacked new data in certain area. Future research could consider how to balance the benefits and negative effects of standardized tests in real-world teaching and learning settings, and better use standardized tests while pursuing educational equity.