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Standardized Testing Dbq

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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?”). In some states, these tests are even used to decide whether or not a student …show more content…

In a study done at Michigan State University in 1983, Donald Freeman and his associates selected five standardized tests that were given nationwide, as well as four textbooks that were widely used to see if the material on the tests is covered in the textbooks. They found that 50 to 80 percent of the questions on the test were not adequately covered in the textbooks. Michigan researchers said, “The proportion of topics presented on a standardized test that received more than a cursory treatment in each textbook was never higher than 50 percent” (Popham). This proves that some teachers, while it is not their fault, do not appropriately prepare their students for these tests, because the material is barely discussed in the textbook. Those teachers who are unfamiliar with the type of questions that are on the state assessments are going to assume that if it is truly meant to test how well students learn, then it will assess them based on how the subject in question is taught locally. This is typically not the case, and many students, regardless of their aptitude to learn, suffer because of it. There is a substantial difference in most schools between what is being taught and what is being …show more content…

There are also much better ways to test a student’s capability to learn; a 2006 Center on Education Policy conducted a study and found that a curriculum that follows state standards and uses the test data as feedback led to higher scores than those that prioritized test-taking skills. When teachers are more focused on teaching material rather than test strategies, their students benefit from it (“Do Standardized Tests Show an Accurate View of Students’ Abilities?”). Several alternative methods to state assessments for measuring a student’s academic success include comparing high school graduation rates and the number of dropouts, offering advanced placement courses, and looking at the percentage of the former students that are admitted to colleges. State assessments are more harmful than helpful to students; they are a large cause of test anxiety and a majority of teachers can never fully prepare their students. Although state assessments are an easy way to be able to see the growth of students, that does not mean that they are the best

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771 Words | 4 Pages

From studying education, I have noticed how many school districts teach based upon what the students will be tested over. As a future educator, I feel as if a standardized test cannot determine what a student is capable of. The individuals creating the test often don’t realize that many students suffer from test anxiety, in fear of failing the test and what is more fearful is how the school districts pressure the teachers to stress to the students the importance of passing the test. Also, in this chapter Boaler describes assessment for learning as having three components clear communication about what students have learned, a way to help students understand where they are on their journey to mastery and where they still need to improve, and information on ways to get from where students are currently to where they need to be to meet success criteria. This chapter offered several strategies that will help students have a better grasp of where they are in the learning process and that will help them develop and maintain a growth mindset.

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793 Words | 4 Pages

Do you like school? In the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is focused around a girl named Francie who is going through poverty and struggles at home, yet she doesn’t let that define her. She is determined to learn, she loves school. She gets a good education and is determined to make something of herself.

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1597 Words | 7 Pages

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.

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1229 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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1749 Words | 7 Pages

Introduction Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of educational purposes. For example, they may be used to determine a young child’s readiness for kindergarten, identify students who need special-education services or specialized academic support, place students in different academic programs or course levels, or award diplomas and other educational certificates. Thesis Statement Standardized tests should not be eliminated completely, but should rather be evaluated in addition to other factors such as grades, extracurricular activities, and volunteer hours. This would take pressure off of students during standardized tests, allow colleges to see how well-rounded the students are, and give students who are better in other areas

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895 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized tests are very common in today’s modern society. They are used as a tool to measure a person’s performance and indicate how their estimated performance will be in a college class. Every year hundreds of students take the ACT or SAT in order to get accepted into their college of choice and to receive scholarships, but they fail to see the problems with these standardized tests. As more and more people take these tests, the national average score falls causing doubt in the extremely important system. This is leading people to question whether or not the ACT and SATs are accomplishing what they were created to do.

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885 Words | 4 Pages

State standardized tests are exams students take to assess their schools, teachers, and what they learned in their year. Many parents and teachers deem these tests useless and see it as an unnecessary stress added to their child’s life. Students should not be taking this exam because it causes a major curriculum gaps between students, causes stress and loss of interest in school, and after almost a full year of learning, this test is supposed to determine a student 's knowledge of the year’s curriculum. Although some say this test prepares students for college, the stress and loss of interest in school caused by this test and test prep can affect student’s mental health and grades. State tests cause stress and anxiety in students, especially lower performing students because of the pressure of making sure all students, regardless of ability, reaches the same level.

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591 Words | 3 Pages

With NCLB’s strong emphasis on standardized testing to measure student learning, teacher quality, and the achievement gaps, it pressured the schools to narrow its curriculum, teach to the test (Jackson Sr., 2011), and more importantly, “limited the productivity of critical thinkers, and innovators of America.” (Proconor) Teachers are forced to teach to the test to meet the requirements, and focus their teaching on the materials that are on the test. At the same time, the NCLB gives the states and school districts the flexibility to develop their own assessments. David Hursh, an Associate Professor at the University of Rochester, claims that this freedom seriously impact the accuracy of the assessments since states can design tests with different standards. (Holmes, 2009)

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927 Words | 4 Pages

There are so many results for a single test that does not even evaluate a student’s knowledge accurately. A single bad day could be disastrous to a student’s career, and a day of lucky guessing can float them by another year. Teachers are “graded” on their class’s results, so if a teacher’s class does poorly, that teacher may have an intervention coming.[PP1] Some people have even advocated for teachers’ pay and job security to be based upon the results of testing(“High-Stakes Test Definition”). Schools are given “grades” as well, and funding is based on them.

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657 Words | 3 Pages

“93% of studies on student testing, including the use of large-scale and high-stakes standardized tests, found a “Positive effect” on student achievement.” State testing has been around the U.S since the mid-1800’s. Therefor, We should have state testing because it holds schools accountable for what they need to teach their students, along with giving objective measures. To start things off, standardized testing holds schools accountable for what the need to teach their students. To make it understandable, Ohio is starting to implement, or put into effect, a school accountability system.

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828 Words | 4 Pages

They often harm students academically and have more negative results than positive ones. The questions asked on mandatory test favor certain groups, yet make it harder for others. They are not fairly made and are biased

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1191 Words | 5 Pages

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

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725 Words | 3 Pages

standardized testing is a very common way of determining a student 's past academic achievement and future potential. however, high-stakes tests can cause anxiety. when teachers or schools are rewarded for better performance on tests, then those rewards encourage teachers to "teach to the test" instead of providing a rich and broad curriculum. as a result, standardized testing has become controversial in the united states.

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1025 Words | 5 Pages

As a student in high school did you ever feel like the standardized test are helping you or making you get in to a better college? Have you ever thought about how many hours students and teachers spend preparing for the standardized test? Many hours and studying are being put into those test but are they really effective and are the test doing the students good in life? Standardized tests are really just to effective, teachers and students spend too much time on them and it’s not doing the students any good, and even it’s not doing the teachers any good. Standardized tests in schools today in Ohio should be stopped because they are causing for teachers to be evaluated by the test results of how the students do on the tests, they are having the students more stressed about school and do they benefit you in colleges and university and do they really look at how well students do on them test.

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1027 Words | 5 Pages

Students from educational institutions across the country can be easily compared to each other. This type of analysis is important in determining if specific areas or schools are trending in such a way that they are considered falling behind as far as the national average is concerned. The impact that the availability of this data has is insurmountable and has led to many extremely beneficial changes to local education programs in many instances over the years. Alternative reasons or causes exist for the implementations of standardized examinations in the United States exist as well. For example, shortly after their introduction the standardized examination system began being utilized for its ability to keep educators accountable for their responsibilities to the students that they are teaching.

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