You will be affected by standardized testing in one way or another. If you are not teaching in a year when a high-stakes test is given, you will in many instances be required to provide students with advance instruction on the types of questions they will face in the coming years. If you are teaching in grades where these high-stakes tests are taken, you will probably be required to spend at least some time directly preparing students for their exam. If a lot of students fail these exams, questions will be asked of their school and their teachers. People will want to know why they were not better prepared.

However, teachers are under the greatest pressure when funding is tied to results of standardized tests. In these instances, teachers in all grades are pushed to spend time preparing students for their exams. If the tests mirror the curriculum students are to learn anyway, this is not a major burden. However, if the opposite is true, then teachers might find they spend more time preparing students for the tests than teaching required material. However, it is important not to spend time complaining to the students about the worthiness of the exams. This could have an adverse affect because students might not take the tests seriously.