What are the social implications of educational testing?

Educational testing, for all the benefits it promises (like educational standardization), actually can have some severely negative impacts, particularly socially. One issue with standardized testing is that it is unable to test a comprehensive set of skills that would be useful. It also doesn’t help determine how someone will improve or develop in the future. Testing tends to create stratification. Think about the SAT: the people with the best SAT scores go on to the best colleges and therefore get a better education, and they eventually end up with better networks due to the people they were associated with in college. It creates a format along the lines of “the rich getting richer." A less accomplished student who has the necessary work ethic may benefit more from a better college, while the person who has already shown capability would thrive regardless of where they ended up.
For another example, let’s look at France. In France, the baccalaureate, or Bac, essentially determines your future. At the end of what we’d consider tenth grade, students decide on an educational focus. They will study this in their final two years much more intensely than anything else. Then, they will take the Bac before graduating. If they do well enough in their areas of concentration, they will qualify to go to a university that focuses on whatever they qualified for. Someone who scores well in math and language may be accepted into multiple universities with diverse focuses. However, if you don’t excel in any area, you may only be qualified to go the local university and will have to study whatever they focus on there. If you fail, you will end up having to choose a trade and becoming an apprentice. So, a student's entire future is essentially decided by a choice in tenth grade and an exam before graduation. Because of this, in larger cities, many who fail the Bac will simply drop out and join gangs, leading to heavy gang violence and crime rates in large cities in France.