Growing up, from first grade until graduation, like clockwork students are required to take standardized tests. In Arizona we had the Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards or AIMs. During a student's sophomore year it was a requirement to take the math, reading, and writing versions and pass to graduate. The problem was not that a standard was made, the problem was that the testing for that standard came only halfway though a students time in high school. If it was truly an accurate measurement for what a student needs learn then
The reasoning given for why the standardized tests were administered so early in school was to give the students who did not pass the test two more chances in both their junior and senior years. While it is reasonable to allow additional opportunities, having a total of four more times to test takes away from the seriousness of the test.
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And while the tests may be locked away until the day that are taken teachers shape their curriculum to mirror the test. Questions and answers from classes are worded and formatted in a similarly to the standardized tests. Some can argue that having a similar structure between the tests for class and standardized tests is reassuring to a student, especially since many of these tests can start as early as first grade. The drawback to this approach is that students come to only know one way to learn, where this is one definitive answer. Having one answer for math is logical, however limiting a students opinion to a multiple choice question takes away from their logic and reasoning skills, and their ability to form their own opinion on a topic. Students are trained to listen, summarize, repeat, and then they forget all that is taught to
Students leave school stressed and full of anxiety and its actually making a negative effect on their everyday life. Students get so overwhelmed that harming themselves is in the picture. The state needs to realize that students aren’t giving their 100% and they will never know their actual academic skills. So why give standardized test? Teachers need to focus on the future and teaching them skills they need in their everyday life.
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.
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.
In fact, the increasing use of standardized testing will do more damage than good, because of its failure to capture the entirety of a student’s body of work. Furthermore, the overwhelming stress that the United States government, and school systems have placed on the usage of standardized tests has become detrimental to American education, and is not the most effective way to gauge the intelligence of American students. The American educational system should be fixated on providing each child enough attention and information so they can succeed in that class and in the future. However, the increasing focus on having to pass a standardized test has blinded schools of the real goal, because they are required to get their students to pass the standardized tests.
However, there are other forms of standardized testing. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) this is a test of achievement from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Another form of tests are the PSAT, which is mainly the preliminary of the SAT test. “52% of teachers surveyed that they spend too much time on testing and test-prep” (Walker). Yet there are a few purposes of these tests, students would not be taking these tests if there were no
Like Barry Bonds on steroids, the overemphasis on standardized learning and assessments has distorted the true meaning of learning. Even if limited data was made available to “demonstrate” the efficacy of high stakes testing on improving math and reading scores, the negative implications behind testing are never taken into consideration. The very real practical result of years of NCLB-type reforms is that the intellectual life has been squeezed out of classrooms. The phrase “high standards” (or rigorous) by definition refers to standards that everyone won’t be able to meet.
The average American student takes about 112 standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and 12th grade (Strauss). A standardized test is any form of test that requires the student to answer the same selection of common questions in a consistent matter, which makes it possible to compare relative student performance. Standardized tests restrict creativity, waste time, and waste money. We should get rid of standardized tests in our school system. Standardized tests limit a student’s ability to express creativity.
School’s are using standardized testing for the wrong reason. “A standardized test is any examination that’s administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. There are two major kinds of standardized tests: aptitude tests and achievement tests” (Popham, 1999). The most common examples of aptitude tests are the SAT and the
Testing is around 115 years old; it started being taken seriously in academics in the early 1900s for the United States. Although it seems minor, standardized testing should not be a thing in any type of school because it causes physical and mental stress for students and teachers, causes a major financial strain in many schools, and takes time to complete and prepare for. Standardized
Some may argue if grades are a good measure of both intelligence and devotion to school, why are standardized tests necessary? Each school is different, so just evaluating a student based on grades leaves far too much room for variations. With different teachers and class sizes, there is really no baseline to compare one student’s academic excellence to
Surely not 40th in math or 24th in reading? For far too many years, standardized testing has been hailed as a benchmark of students progress. However, this brutal regime of up to twenty-five hours of exams a year is not working. They are nothing but high-stress wastes of time, ineffective at improving students skills. Remember the last time you took a standardized test.
No More Standardized Testing Are you sleeping at 3:00 in the morning? You’re in luck if you are, many students have little sleep because of “standardized testing”, but is it worth it? Those tests you work so hard for everyday might be the one thing that’s keeping you from being creative and help solve the bigger problems in the world. Those Satan or so called “standardized testing” doesn’t really define you. You probably have or will have to take the SAT and the ACT that will cause you to go crazy with all of this information you have to obtain.
Standardized Tests: Right or Wrong? Diane Ravitch, a historian of education, once said that, “sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent students do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.” These tests have been a part of American education since the mid-1800s(Is the Use), but now, many people are starting to realize that standardized tests are not as convenient as they thought they were. In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act required all schools in the United States to test students in grades two through twelve annually in reading, math, and science(Is the Use). But since then, the U.S. has dropped from 18th in the world in mathematics to 36th, with a similar change in science as well.
A standardized test, according to W. James Popham of ASCD.org, is “any examination that is administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner.” In standardized testing, examinees are instructed to precisely answer a specific set of questions, which are usually multiple-choices. Although standardized testing is believed to be an objective method to grade students, administers should understand that these tests are not only a waste of time, but also a waste of money. Standardized testing is irrelevant to a student’s education because it is an unreliable way to measure a student’s knowledge, causes stress, and hinders a student’s overall learning potential.
Not only did it put stress on student it also pressure the teacher because if any student was to fail it would put the teacher in the line of question why the student wasn’t able to pass. Now think about standardized testing in a work environment. Picture it you come in to work every day on time do all the project your manger assign you. You’re the ideal employee and after three year they make you take a one test and you don’t pass the test by a few point. Now that promotion you were in line to get goes right out the window along with all the other effort you put in the previous 3 years.