Standardized testing not only stresses out students, but it also leads the teachers to go in a dilemma whether to focus on the curriculum or to get students ready for the standardized testing. No one has ever enjoyed taking a test in his or her entire educational history. Similarly Mr. Estrada’s 4th grade class was not every excited about taking standardized test. Each student has his or her own level of learning. As the students were taking the test, I noticed some students were panicking, while others were confused.
This author agrees with President Obama saying that their are two many standardized test, which does not leave enough time for students to learn what they need to graduate. He goes one to Quote President Obama saying “Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble,” the president said. “So we’re going to work with states, school districts, teachers, and parents to make sure that we’re not obsessing about testing … to make sure that our kids are enjoying learning, that our teachers are able to operate with creativity, to make sure we are preparing our kids for a lifetime of
Even though many students absolutely hate them, state assessments are a big part of the American education system. Everyone has taken a standardized test at some point in their life, and almost everyone has done poorly on one. They are primarily used as a measurement of how well students learn, but are they truly accurate? There are strong arguments on both sides, which has started a heated conflict about the productiveness of these tests. Standardized testing has been around for many years, starting in Imperial China where it was intended to determine a person’s aptitude for a government position (“Do Standardized Tests Show an Accurate View of Students’ Abilities?”).
Standard testing is a very controversial and important subject because it deals with the progression of the American education system. The practice of these assessments has been highly scrutinized not only for the way it has changed the format of classrooms, but also for its accuracy, pressure, and abundance. In 2001, standardized testing became federally mandated through the No Child Left Behind Act by former president George Bush Jr. According to research from the Council of the Great City Schools, students have been taking “an average of 113 tests from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade” (K. Hefling). These numbers have increased to the point where parents have opted for their children to not attend standardized exams.
Part I: High-stakes student testing has challenged many states, districts, and schools across the nation. In some states, students do not advance to the next grade level or receive diplomas without passing standardized tests. What are the validity and reliability issues? What are the consequences of using the scores for making such decisions?
In my opinion, public educational curriculums and accountability guidelines should be established at the state and local levels where parents/guardians play an integral role in the decision making process. I do not believe standardized tests alone are an accurate measure of a student’s knowledge; their classwork, projects, and literary works also represent a student’s talent and capabilities. In agreement with Robert Schaeffer, a representative for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, that federal mandated programs such as the No Child Left Behind and The Race to The Top high-stakes tests foster the temptation to cheat because they serve as means to both punish and reward students, teachers, and principals based solely upon test scores (Schaeffer,
The state of Texas has been in a constant struggle within itself over just how to evaluate education, and standardized testing in Texas has been a major influencer in terms of the state’s standards for over thirty years. Though these methods of testing have been utilized for decades, resentment to the tests have been continuously rising among educators, parents, and students, but not everyone agrees. Despite government officials trying to quell these protests with changes to administration, and the way the test itself is formatted and formulated, there seems to have been little to no improvement made and those opposing the tests have started calling for an end to all standardized testing. For one to truly understand this ongoing struggle, one must first look at standardized testing’s beginning, then how government today is trying to fix the broken system, and finally consider the opinions of notable figures in the testing world.
Education has had some form of high stakes testing for many years, the SAT, ACT, AP, and so on. Testing in this form was used to measure how much a student had learned and retained over the course of a student’s education. However, over time the testing focus changed. High stakes testing morphed from a useful tool that gauges achievement to becoming the primary focus in education. The focus is no longer about what the child has achieved, instead the emphasis is on achieving top scores.
Justin Murphy’s writing on, “More Parents Keeping Kids From State Tests” is in favor for the new Common Core ELA tests. It begins by stating the huge reason as to why many people are against these tests. A strong link is made between students and teachers on the attack for the new tests and that link lies in the student’s test scores and teacher evaluations. Since the scores can be linked to how well a teacher has taught a subject, the teachers themselves are angry because the low test scores their students receive, reflect the teachers’ efforts. Charter schools and business organizations are supporters of the state testing regime.
Standardized tests have been an integral component of the American educational system since the mid-1800s. The use of standardized tests went through the roof with the creation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002, which made it mandatory for all 50 states to hold annual standardized tests. Standardized tests are defined by W. James Popham, former president of the American Educational Research Association, as “any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner. These tests often consist of multiple choice questions which are able to be quickly scored by an automated test scoring machine. I do not believe that standardized tests are improving education in America because they are detrimental
Thank you so much for taking your time out of your very busy days to join us. It is always wonderful to share thoughts with people of your expertise, especially on a subject that affects my everyday life. Education is paramount to achieving success, and living in the modern world. In my school we take several standardized tests that are supposed to measure how much knowledge I’ve retained throughout the year. These exams have changed the way that children are taught, and have made public schools int a limited learning environment.
A friend’s party, recess, and qualifying for the sports team are a few of the common factors that revolve around a child’s life. Unfortunately, the list doesn’t include education. Administering standardized tests will aid in amending the remissness in our future generation of career professionals. Due to the fact that standardized testing provides an opportunity of change from a world of fantasy into a reasonable one, this method should be enforced throughout the nation.
A Scandalous School System Neglectful, biased, diverting, or, in this case, all of the above. Standardized testing, including not only the SAT but oftentimes a slew of other state-required tests, overwhelms millions of students and educators in the US annually. The mild benefits and insights these tests offer are no comparison to the stress they cause. The unintended side effects these tests produce have been present since they were first put into place, but have dramatically strengthened in the last decade. This instant push-back should serve as a red flag to districts enforcing the tests.
With so much focus and emphasis on standardized testing, education- the main purpose of school- is pushed aside and becomes the side act to the show of what is standardized testing. To begin, the resources used for educational programs are now allocated towards standardized testing. According to a report published by Education Policy at Brookings Institution (2012), “States spend a combined $1.7 billion annually on standardized testing.” Although this only accounts for about 1% of the annual K-12 education spending, this money could be put towards increasing teachers’ salaries, sponsoring programs for the arts, or supplying schools with more technology and resources. Money is not the only resource that is being relinquished to standardized
Recently, President Obama seemed to contradict himself over his views on education and specifically standardized testing. Appearing to finally succumb to the public backlash over the education reform practiced by the Obama administration, this is a very relevant and important issue for high school students. All across America, students take dozens of standardized tests each year. This is related to government because the Federal and State governments are resopnsible for regulating these exams and create the curriculum to prepare students for tests. A major reform to the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act could drastically affect schools and the government.
