Standardized testing has become a very controversial topic amongst the nation. There are two sides, one that agrees that these tests are doing well for students and school officials, and another that argues that these tests are hurting the students taking them and should be put to a stop. Norman R. Augustine wrote an article for the need of standardized testing, and Jessie B. Ramey States the ways that the tests are impairing the learning capability of the students. Norman uses three arguments that people opposing the standardized test would most often use. The first is that these test encourages the teachers just to “teach the test”, but he ensures that, this is exactly what the teachers should be doing. The tests are measuring the proficiency …show more content…
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. She finds the tests are impacting the children in negative …show more content…
In most schools, classrooms and hallways are striped of everything on the walls and boards, so the students can’t be accused of cheating off of any material. Students are often put on some type of lock-down, limiting access to the bathroom and other facilities. Over the many weeks that the standardized test are taking place, resources and facilities are being taken over by the students that are taking the tests. The school computer labs, and sometimes libraries have test held in them, and students are not allowed to enter them to use the resources for studies. Students are also getting less learning time, due to the time it takes for test prep. They even will take out daily announcements and pep-rallies to “prepare” the students for the tests they have that day (Ramey). With everything comes a Pro and Con side, but it is to find middle ground which is important. This argument of standardized testing, has the side of the nation trying to keep up with the standards of other country, because we are falling a bit behind in academics, compared to other countries. There is where a line where students aren’t getting the all-round experience and knowledge that they need to succeed. Both parties need to find a line that can supersede education standards without taking away from the
Standardized testing has been used in the United States since the late 1800s to test students in the subjects they’ve been studying for an entire year and ultimately decide if they pass or fail the year based on the results of these tests. After the No Child left Behind Act the use of the standardized tests increased, but have only negatively affected students in their learning. Backlashes to standardized testing has increased from students, teachers, and parents who deem these tests useless and unnecessary to a child’s education since students are only “taught to test.” Standardized tests should be removed as they offer students no life skills, they cause stress to students and teachers, and they only benefit the multibillion dollar companies distributing these tests. While many people are against standardized tests, many individuals still support these tests.
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
They argue that the fact that the results of this test can be seen by all parties involved in the education system allows for accountability on the parts of all involved if test results are not where they should be. They argue that this helps educators by ensuring that all, fourth graders for instance, are being taught the same material and are being tested with the same standardized test across the country. This is seen as being extremely beneficial in that it allows for specific districts and school to make the required adjustments in any area that they fall short off versus the national results. It is also seen by these proponents as helping teachers minimize time wasted trying to put together their curriculum by giving them guidance on what to teach allowing them to focus on educating the children under their
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.
Today I will talk about how standardized tests should be modified. I will be talking about how standardized tests are taking up too much class time and they need to be shorter. Standardized tests should be shorter they take up too much time and children have no fun at all with just worrying about the test. Standardized tests take all the fun out of a child's day. This essay will persuade the reader the the government needs to modify the test’s because they are taking up too much time, they are sucking the joy out of children because they have to worry about the tests, and that the test just repeats what they already tested on.
Standardized Testing hurts children who think in different ways. This is quoted by Valerie Strauss, who makes a great point by saying children can only learn by the way it 's taught and it cannot be learned from other sources. Standardized Testing limits what children can learn and how they learn. Schools also spend an extraordinary amount on testing that could be going to better education and more funding to arts and extracurricular activities. Although, some say standardized testing is beneficial to the way students learn, statistics show that this is simply not true, standardized testing adds unnecessary stress on students, suppresses their creativity, and limits the creativity of teachers.
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,
A study conducted throughout the entire continental U.S. showed that 70 percent of teachers reported to being stressed from standardized testing, with 66 percent believing that they spent too much time studying material that was going to be on the test. Teachers are pressured by their school district administrators to push this material, as these test scores determine the quality and budget of education their district will get. There is certainly a better way to divide up the budget in each school district. So far, this is what we have learned about standardized testing: It stresses out students, it provides disadvantages to low-wealth and minority students, and it puts pressure on teachers to study the common core test material rather than helping students learn and grow. It is important that the state knows how students from each district are doing in the classroom, but there is a much simpler way to do this.
In the article, there was a letter President Obama wrote letter to the American public on the amount of standardization that is in American classroom and then the article touched on the ways that are brought up to help make standardization more realistic. He says that he believes that we are spending too much time testing in classrooms that students will not remember the tests they took but the way teachers supported the students. He suggests that tests should not be the only way we can take a look at student’s performance, but rather that we look at classroom activities and take polls of students, getting a better look at a student as a whole. One idea that was brought up was having tests at the beginning and end of the school year, this way
The time that students spend outside of class studying for standardized tests could be used for something more productive. The school also has to create a modified schedule so students can take the standardized test- it will most likely result in shorter class periods, cutting away from valuable learning time. These tests waste incalculable hours during the school day and outside of
All students dread one thing when it comes to school - testing. Standardized test are the main focus in our school systems instead of actually gaining knowledge at the end of the year. As a mother, Michelle Rhee, understands the lack of attention given on education as a whole instead of just waiting on the scores, but she still agrees on continuing with standardized test. Kristina Rizga opposes the opinion of Michelle Rhee as she does not believe standardized test truly measure the intelligence of a student. Kristina Rizga proves her stand against standardized test by utilizing solid use of argumentation.
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
The growing minds of scholars in elementary, middle and high school should be exposed to a more creative system of measuring education. When reflecting on the current state of testing, John Holt states, “And so, in this dull and ugly place, where nobody ever says anything very truthful, where everybody is playing a kind of role, as in a charade, where teachers are no more free to respond honestly to the students than the students are free to respond to the teachers or each other” (E) This reflection on America’s education system represents the controlling and ineffective tactics. Students and teachers have confirmed to an unnatural fruitless environment including standardized testing. This demonstrates the effects of attention away from the needs of an individual. Secondly, on a design for a book about how to prepare kinder gated students for standardized testing, it shows images of pencils, clocks and a slip of paper including four answer bubbles.
competencies? and teachers’ effectiveness. According to Gustafson, this leads to a rigid environment that is not conducive to learning for students of low SES. Gustafson uses his real life experience as an educator to illustrate how the emphasis on standardized testing is negatively affecting students of low SES. For example, Gustafson recounts an eighth-grade student of low SES mentioning his accent and asking where Gustafson was from. Gustafson told her he taught in Chicago the previous year, the student response was, “That’s not in Brownsville, (Texas) is it?”
The state tried to force this child, Ethan, to take this test. In the meantime while Andrea was fighting the school system, Ethan Rediske passed away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our children aren’t all dying of terrible diseases, but these standardized testing is killing our brothers and sisters creativity and passion for school instead. Standardized tests do not accurately measure what students know and what they can do, nor are they accurate predictors of future success