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Schools do it for two reasons.
1. The district gets huge, fat government checks depending on how high the scores are on the tests.
2. Government made it illegal to not have the tests.... and I'm pretty sure that most people don't wanna lose their jobs/go to prison.

I don't believe in them whatesoever. Big companies shouldn't need anything but proof of educational level of the possible employees. Standardized testing not only limits but also inhibits the learning process, hence why the quality of education has actually fallen in the past four decades. How does it limit it? Simply stated, the teachers are afraid of losing their jobs and the district wants more money from the government so they continually promote standardized testing over and over again and many class periods are wasted on how to answer multiple choice problems or how to write down a correct short answer/essay without even learning how to dissect or find key facts for said questions. How does a standardized test in any way level the capacity of a person if they are learning more about how to get through the test and less about the actual subject. Not only that, but the millions upon millions spent on standardized tests could be used to the betterment of education quality. I personally see getting fresh textbooks more beneficial to the learning experience than getting fresh brand new standardized tests each year. I also see it more beneficial to the teacher student relationship to just do away with them. The teachers are forced to teach an almost brand new subject and the students end up hating the teacher and refuse to do any work anyway thus further inhibiting the little bit of learning that remains after the massacre that standardized testings bring. Also, upon entering College you find that you really know nothing of the subject you want to major in unless you do rigorous independent study of the subject. You only remember how to pass a test that in the end is irelevent to the real world and higher education.

Next, it is a terrible psychological mind game on students. What does it do for a young third grader whose still discovering confidence in himself or herself and find out that they must repeat the third grade because they got too nervous on test day. Now I don't know where some of the people here have gone to school, but I have attended schools with people that will only try once and if they see that they fail then they give up and never try again. Now I don't know about any consensus or the opinions of the government regarding the matter however I think it is more damaging to the district to see this happen than if they just abandon the tests and focus more on education rather than numbers and percentages. We students are not numbers, we are not some data projection. We all have differences, some are better at math than others. Some better in reading or writing, some in science, and to say that a student is below average of what the "norm" is psychologically damaging, it is emotionally damaging, and it it is economically damaging regarding the costs of these tests. I'll also have it known that most of these people never themselves had to take these tests as children so they themselves should never be qualified to make such decisions, just as people that have never seen a lawbook shouldn't be laywers.

There is no point to these tests other than a psychological roller coaster and the changing of standards in education. And people wonder why one third of today's kids are dropping out of High School with even more dropping Colleges and Universities. I think the answers are obvious...

I think its tests are stupid and are discrimanating to ppl who have no skills or just can't do it. To say this, I am really bad at Math and Sciance and plus in Washington State if u don't pass 10th grade WASL u can't pass high school so that really bumbs me out alot, and so its really true that the goverment is sending checks to schools that needs it but its still not enough to help them. and that we have a job to know what needs to be inproved and that schools, tests, its are job to get better and be sussessful in the real world.

I will say this All Schools should have a class called AVID and ppl who have a hard time on tests will get help and learn new skills such as test taking stratigies. I am in this class and I am passing my Middle school classes.

and 2nd ask your counsolers or teachers or administrations at school they will help u on almost everything and can get the classes u need to be sussessful.

I hope this helps ppl!

i think that standardized testing should be mandatory for all students because it lets teachers no what level they are at and it gives an idea on how fast the individual student is capable of learning. sometimes students are put in classes that dont really fit thier learning needs or capablities. like advanced students are put in lower classes and struggling students are sometimes placed in a class that is tgo hard for them and when they dont do the work it comes off as lazyness instead of a struggle to understand. its not fair to them that they get into trouble when it really isnt there fault