High-stakes testing is a form of testing that came about after the No Child Left Behind Act, or NCLB. High stakes tests are defined as the summative test or assessment designed to measure student achievement to make decisions that are of prominent educational, financial or social impact. (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2013) The concept of high stakes test is to determine and account for several factors such as whether a student will be promoted to the next grade or if a student will receive a high school diploma. Other factors include financial incentives for the school, principals or teachers, or the reassignment to other schools for principals and teachers depending on test scores. In general, high stake testing scores are very important. This data helps to “make decisions that are of prominent educational, financial, or social impact.” (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2013, p25) They are used to determine if students will be promoted to the next grades, receive a high school diploma, as well as …show more content…
Three arguments that I would argue for high stakes tests is that they motivate students to work harder, study more and take the test more seriously. I believe that if students are given a test along with the measurements for the test, they would want to do their best when taking the test. Another argument that I would have for high stake test is that once scores are calculated, they would show area of educational need for students who are struggling in specific educational areas. This way teachers will be able to focus on certain materials that students haven’t yet mastered or students may need additional guidance. The third argument that I have for against high stakes testing is it can show administrators and higher level people that the students are given more confidence in themselves because they will feel that the students are mastering the concepts in school at a higher
It is sad so much confusion surrounds Initiative 42, especially when nearly 200,000 Mississippians signed petitions to have it placed on the November ballot to amend the state Constitution. If passed, Initiative 42 will hold the Mississippi legislature accountable for keeping its promise to fully fund public schools. That should be simple enough, but Governor Bryant has done everything within his power to confuse the issue. Is he that two-faced?
The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans is an executive action President Barack Obama plans on implementing in order to try and control illegal immigration. Its main goal is to deport illegal immigrants back to their home country who have a criminal history while providing those with a clean record an opportunity “to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation” (). A way to be more conducive to an effective change in immigration policies would be to change the acceptance date to January 1st, 2000. DAPA, or also known as the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, is an initiative requested by President Barack Obama that “would provide approximately 5 million illegal aliens access to work permits and social security cards”
Texas is a complicated state with profound roots implanted in restricted government power. It is a very conservative state that holds to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion. Governor, Rick Perry, within seconds of his speech he states, " millions of Texans…, are tired of Washington D.C,. trying to tell us how to run Texas". Just about every Texan, supports the restricted government in the middle of residents and state.
Discussion Post- Chapter 7- High stakes testing Claim: High stakes testing is an extremely problematic political issue within the education system because it holds all students to the same standards regardless of disabilities or disadvantages , it encourages educators to teach strictly on information that relates to the tests, and it can have major consequences for schools across the country that are unable to make Adequete Yearly Progress (AYP). Evidence: The Learning to Teach Edition Nine textbook outlines key disadvantages to high stakes testing. Although the textbook does consider some of the advantages, which include a focus of attention on the achievement of students and providing information on areas where students may need to improve,
Arguments for standerdized testing say the tests are fair and are a good measurement of student achievement. Opponents claim the testing adds unwanted stress, anxiety, and a negative 'teach to the test' attitude.
As “Education week 's” Ron Wolk’s has said, “The system failed to educate them adequately, and now it punishes them for not being educated. " Ron Wolk is stating that with a school district failing to educate its students, these students have to pay the price by failing the test. High Stakes testing may also affect the district. Low scores could result in the reorganization of schools or a shift of resources to charter schools or private-school vouchers. Who knew that one test could severely damage a community and school
Over the past years, technological advancements have been expanding at an exponential rate which means that the world Aldous Huxley had envisioned in Brave New World will soon come. Neil Postman, a social critic, examines Huxley’s vision of the future and gave interesting points about how Huxley’s society is relevant to ours. Postman believed that Huxley feared that there won’t be a reason to ban a book, that the truth will be drowned in irrelevance, and that our desires will ruin us. While some of these assertions are true, opponents may argue that there’s always a reason to banning something. This is untrue because you don't necessarily need a reason to ban something that society doesn't need.
Kane, director of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, compares this occurrence to be equivalent to saying, ”because there are some players that cheated in Major League Baseball, we should stop keeping score, because that only encourages people to take steroids”. As the third argument, people against these test say that, high stakes testing places too much pressure on students. Norman says he that these test can sometimes constitute cruel and unusual punishment, but surely there is a middle ground between the practices and full-scale abandonment of standardized testing can be found. “Those who argue against standardized testing are not only misguided, but are also leading U.S school and students in the wrong direction” (Augustine). Jessie B. Ramey disagrees.
With the year-round pressure pertaining to college applications on high school seniors follows the impending decision of choosing an appropriate college major. Generally, the decision-making process involves prioritizing one field of interest over another, however, due to globalization and constant innovation in technology determining a college major has increasingly become the modern day equivalent of the metaphorical line between life and death. Even so, the obvious choice would be the prestigious STEM fields over liberal arts due to the instant job opportunities which are seemingly ludicrous to a recent graduate. Nevertheless, liberal arts education should be encouraged to be pursued at higher education institutions in USA because it helps
Standardized tests are one of the most popular ways schools attempt to evaluate academic intelligence of students, school districts, and teachers. These tests are used more specifically to evaluate student performance in the education system by testing their abilities in mathematics, english and sciences. By giving every student the same test, they are setting a standard idea for how well every student should score on the test, such as the SAT or the ACT, no matter the school or educational process they are receiving. Allowing every student to take the exact same test, gives the state a way to generalize student’s academic intelligence without having to do much work to make the testing one hundred percent fair. Standardized testing in schools should no longer be required because it discriminates against the less wealthy families, does not effectively measure achievement and becomes a distraction to the student’s learning environment.
To begin, standardized testing puts a lot of unhealthy stress on students and gives them even more problems to worry about. Many students find standardized testing to be extremely stressful and can lead to faulty habits. According to the author Quinn, Mulholland: "One student couldn’t handle the stress of all of these tests and broke down in the middle of one. “She had a complete meltdown,” Neely-Randall told the HPR. “And I could do nothing to help her, I couldn 't help her with the test.
Tests should be low-stakes, flexible questions and evaluations should ask for thoughtful responses and not multiple-choice guesses, and a reinforcement of the fact that tests are not the “be all, end all” when it comes to the goal of the education system. By doing this, we would give
Columbia University wrote that, “There are many people who simply do not perform well on tests. Many of these students are smart and understand the content, but it doesn’t show on the test. Many students also develop test anxiety which hinders performance” (Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing 1). To only have one way of accumulating test scores is unjust for the students who do not perform well in
It creates an obsession with test scores as a chief “accountably” metric for students, educators and schools. This system has led to the exams becoming an end instead of a means to an end. For instance, according the Joh Holt, within the learning environment “the air practically vibrates with suspicion and anxiety, the child learns to live in a daze, saving his energies for those small parts of his life that are too trivial for the adults to bother with, and thus remain his.” (E) This represents the crucial and harsh environment students experience when facing tests. It puts unnecessary stress on the minds of students and degrades their self worth into nothing.
The way we test takes up time that could be used to learn something new. The first piece of evidence that I have, is that the tests cause stress to many people. The text stated, “Tests cause lots of stress and anxiety to people.” Some reasons are that parents believe that teachers have been “teaching to the test” throughout the years.