Standardized Testing...Time Well Spent?

Standardized testing. Words that bring back memories of a sharp #2 pencil, reading long passages about unusual topics, and being advised to refrain from using the restroom until a designated break time. Hours and hours of preparation and testing, all to collect data about who is at the top, and who is struggling. Educators all around the world are voicing their opinions about this evolving issue involving students around the nation today.
Around the globe, there is a large amount of diversity in education, whether it is looking at ways to educate or the individual standardized test scores of each student. The intentions of standardized testing are valid-educators need to know how students are doing in each of the subjects. The problem starts to arise when young children have to spend multiple hours learning the material for the standardized test, taking the actual test, and then proceeding to take more and more tests throughout their day. There is too much testing that is taking time away from sacred learning time. The amount of time spent on these tests is unnecessary.
In a survey given in 2015 by the National Education Association to 1500 members of the organization, 81% of them said that they felt the Parcc test (an online standardized test administered to public school students from elementary, middle, and high school) was not developmentally appropriate. As mentioned before, there is a vast amount of diversity when it comes to the intellectual ability of students. When one test is administered to all students, some children will receive lower scores and some will receive higher, concluding on the spot that one student is smarter than the other. This information is misleading and not useful. Each student has his or her own strengths and weaknesses that can not be summarized in a test. Not all students are great test takers, but they could do great when it comes to low-pressure situations such as projects or presentations. One test is not going to meet each student in the middle, rather lower their egos by assuming their intelligence without knowing the whole story.
When teachers are receiving standardized test results, they are receiving information about their students that they already know. They know who is advanced in one area, or struggles in another. Educators have this information from the check-ins they do with their students every day at school. In addition, a standardized test provides information about how a student performed, but with no steps on how to fix their weak points. In its essence, a standardized test provides little to no valuable information.
Standardized testing is being depended on too much, and it provides inaccurate, redundant information. This type of testing does not provide any steps on how to help struggling students, and there are already better strategies available for student evaluation. The United States would not be at a loss by ending this way of toxic testing.