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Annotated Bibliography

What are the positive and negative effects of standardized testing in the educational community?

Sydney Quach
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
March 11, 2015

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Annotated Bibliography
"Standardized Tests - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. ProCon, 7 July 2014. Web. 12 Mar.
2015.
ProCon is a scholarly organization that produces articles that presents perspectives on
highly controversial topics. On this specific article, it discusses the subject of
standardized testing. The article provides multiple outlooks on the two sides of the
spectrum. The organization accomplishes its mission by researching and presenting a
balanced and understandable set of viewpoints while remaining unbiased towards any
side. For the proactive side of standardized testing, they say that standardized tests are
reasonable measurements of student achievement while the opponents say that the tests
are not reasonable at all. Opponents say that standardized testing only pushes the idea of
teaching to the test and that the test destroy innovative minds. Through evaluating the
credibility of this organizations article, I believe that ProCon creates a fair, unbiased
standing on standardized testing. The intended audience would be people that are
interested in learning more about standardized testing and want to receive the information
without being swayed. ProCon is credible because all of the information used is cited.
Although the article is a compilation of many different resources, it is all taken from
reliable resources and is recited thoroughly. A lot of other sources only allow one pointof-view, while this site allows us to see both sides of the argument. This fits into my
research completely because I want to know about both perspectives of standardized
testing from every aspect and this article provides that for me. I will be using this article
in order to create a strong foundation of knowledge for my audience. This has a lot of

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viable information that will support my efforts to stay unbiased throughout the paper, and
actually state facts.
"Membership." Educational Leadership: Using Standards and Assessments: Why Standardized
Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality. ASCD, 1 Mar. 1999. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
This scholarly article expresses the mission of standardized testing as a whole, and the
stereotypes about it. Popham talks about the positive correlation that scores have on the
staffs effectiveness. If a schools test scores are high, outsiders think the schools staff is
ineffective, or if the test scores are low, outsiders think that the schools staff is
ineffective. In this article, it states why standardized test do not measure the quality of
education or the students academic ability. Standardized testings core mission is to
create an assessment that can interpret a students status regarding to the content that the
developers believe to be necessary to daily life, but that creates a problem within itself. It
creates a discriminatory environment to students they may not have been exposed to
those specifics subjects, and it doesnt truly represent the students academic ability. This
article develops an idea that teachers need assessment instruments that measure
worthwhile skills or important subjects. This source has a more specific outlook rather
than the other source in my bibliography, which has an open point of view. The article
serves as an informative article for an audience that would like to understand why the
standardized tests arent doing what their mission wants. This article is definitely helpful
for my inquiry because it gives more in depth information on the negative aspects of
standardized testing, and it has a lot of useful counterpoints to the proactive side. It will
most likely appear in my project.

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A. M. Klein, A.A. Zevenbergen, and N.Brown "Managing Standardized Testing in Todays

Schools." The Journal of Educational Thought Vol. 40, No. 2: pp. 145-157. Web.
This scholarly journal gives a different perspective rather than a pro and con, but how the
system was tested. This paper explores how teachers manage standardized testing in
schools. A survey was distributed among 20 elementary, middle, and high school teachers
in a semi-rural community of Western New York. The data revealed the impact of testing
on teaching. Standardized testing affects many of the teachers' focus on lessons. In many
cases, teachers prepare their students year-round. Teachers provide test-related,
preparative instruction, which governs most of their curricula. Some teachers admit to
teaching more towards the test rather than a self-created curriculum. This information
will be used to work towards a stronger standardized testing system for the educational
community. I believe that this article is reliable because it has a lot of information that
parents or teachers dont have, and they are more facts than opinion. This is based on data
collected by a non-biased group, and all of the information was reflected solely on what
was collected. I will use this in my inquiry in order to create an understanding from a
professional point of view. It isnt telling me why standardized testing is good or bad, but
what can be done to better the education that teachers give, better.
Kohn, Alfie. The Case against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools.
Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2000. Print.
Students are tested to an extent that doesnt truly represent what the student has learned
or retained. From the latest research, Kohn explains how harmful standardized testing can
be to our students. Many points were made, such as, high scores often signify relatively
superficial thinking, the use of standardized testing doesnt help close the gap and that

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some schools may lower its standards in order to improve the test results. I would use this
book because it follows the outline on how standardized testing has negative effects on
schools and students. It shows the truth on how it is effecting standards. Alfie Kohn
writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The author of
thirteen books and scores of articles, he lectures at education conferences and universities
as well as to parent groups and corporations. With this quote, I believe Kohn is
knowledgeable and understands what is necessary. I might go to another article and use
this information as backup and have something a little more up to date.