Pros

• Holds teachers and schools accountable³⁸
• Teachers and schools are required to teach students subjects that will be on the tests
• Compares students from various schools against each other³⁸
• The testing creates a set of standards and instructions, which gives teachers guidelines on what students should be taught and when during the school year³⁸
• The guidelines also ensure that students who move to new schools are not behind when they enroll³⁸
• Biases are taken out since the people who create and grade the tests do not know the students³⁸
• Provides information in which students of sub-groups (ethnicity, special needs and socioeconomic status) can be compared, regardless of their school or state ³⁸
• Ensures that students are provided a basic level of education³⁹
• The results of the tests can be used by the teachers to create learning plans for individual students⁴⁰
• The results are available to the public, allowing parents to compare their children’s’ school to others in the area³⁹
• The pressures, stress and anxiety produced from the tests can help the student create strategies to cope with future assessments⁴⁰

Cons

• Evaluates students performance over one day³⁸
• Does not account for external factors (conflicts with family or friends, being sick etc.)³⁸
• Students have heightened anxiety as a result of having to take the tests, which impacts their ability to do well on them³⁸
• Does not account for students growth throughout the year³⁸
• Adds stress on teachers, which decreases flexibility as well as innovation and creativity and increases the probability that they will leave the profession³⁸
• The performance of the students impacts the funding of the schools³⁸
• Some students who fail to pass the tests with a specific grade will either be unable to advance to the next grade or graduate³⁸
• Subjects other than math or language arts, lose priority in the classrooms, because they aren’t on the tests⁴⁰
• Curriculums being narrowed⁴¹