Standardized test score are a reflection of one’s access not ability. Standardized testing has had a negative impact on poor urban communities.

• Test taking as a system to be gamed
• Many can’t afford text books or test prep

Standardized tests are based on a specific knowledge taught from a specific set of books.

Shown below is an example taken from the 2009 Pennsylvania State Standardized Assessment, which asked third-grade students to write down an even number with three digits and then explain how they arrived at their answers.

Students in schools in poor communities do not have access to these books. When they are present these books are few and far between. In an Atlantic article on standardized testing, a quote from a parent with a child in the Philadelphia Public School System reads,“My daughter is not allowed to bring her textbook home because they don’t want it to get lost.”

In the year before the article was written Philadelphia schools were allotted $0 per students for textbooks.