Over the past few decades, standardized tests have become an established part of the US education system. In the United States, standardized tests first appeared during World War I, but not in schools, but in the army, where servicemen were assigned to certain tasks based on an army mental test. The face of standardized testing today, the SAT was first founded in 1926 by the College Board. It wouldn't be long before these tests gained so much importance in the college admissions process that a small difference in your score could lead to why you get accepted into a college or not. Its competitor, the ACT, was designed 30 years later for the same purpose, to create a standardized test for students applying to college (Fletcher, 2009). In lower education schools, standardized tests first came onto the scene a few years after Russia's launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957. The launch of the Russian-made satellite sparked debate over whether the United States was or less behind on a scientific level. Many believed the satellite launch indicated this, but the opposition pointed to the fact that the United States could have launched a satellite, but chose not to for fear of foreign unrest. In any case, the launch of Sputnik was often considered a sign of the lack of education in the United States and helped lead to the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958 and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 ( Turgut, 65). These acts hoped to revitalize U.S. education by emphasizing equal opportunity for all students and creating high standards of accountability. This was the first time in history that the US federal government took a dive into education. However, it wouldn't be until 1983 when standardized testing really took off with the National Commission on Excellence in Education's report, A Nation at Risk. The report warned US education: “What was unimaginable for a generation