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The importance of assessment in teaching and learning
The importance of assessment in teaching and learning
The importance of assessment in teaching and learning
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A mind is a terrible thing to waste, the motto of the United Negro College Fund. Education is the key to success, a quote heard almost daily around the world. There is no doubt that education is the most important instrument that one can possess. Yet, the importance of education has always been present throughout history. Looking back at philosophers such as Aristotle, Dewey, and Piaget their main concern and passion has always been how to properly educate children. Also, the same is true for both state and federal government. State and federal governments have influenced education over the years with legislation such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, America 2000, No Child Left Behind, and the current Common Core State Standards. None of these attempts to improve education has been successful. However, could a uniform national curriculum standardize and improve education? Having a uniform national curriculum could be beneficial in many ways. A uniform national curriculum would help student evaluation, student flexibility, and student competitiveness because all children would be on a level playing field before entering college.
Implementing a uniform national curriculum can tremendously impact the way students are evaluated in schools. It is obvious that when different curriculums are present, the nation is responsible for coming up with a system to evaluate the knowledge of students from different schools. For example, if more than one school makes a major change in the curriculum, then the nation is responsible for adapting the system to reflect the changes made. This inflexible task can be avoided if there was a national curriculum in place. Also, this could cut down on the different types of assessments needed t...
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...could be problems with both teacher and student creativity, and the differentiated learning styles of students.
Ultimately, a uniform national curriculum is the key to successfully evaluating students. A lot less time and effort is needed to evaluate students with one curriculum versus multiple curriculum's nationwide. Also, flexibility for those students who change schools throughout their education is beneficial because it takes away the stress of having to adapt to a new curriculum and coursework, which is the last thing a student needs after relocating from their comfort zone. Lastly, enabling students to compete on a level playing field increases the odds of getting into the college of their choice. As a result, implementation of a national curriculum can only benefit students in the long run and allow them equal opportunity nationally and eventually globally.
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
In “The Essentials of a Good Education” by Diane Ravitch, she states that students are not getting a full curriculum because schools are focusing too much on the subjects the government has mandated. Since public schools are insistent on maintaining good test scores from their students, they taking more time for practice tests and are making cuts to other classes or departments they feel are less necessary to the students’ education, but in reality make them well-rounded students and future citizens. The No Child Left Behind law and the Race to the Top program have caused schools to obsess over test scores and data instead of keeping an advanced curriculum for their students. Educated parents would only want the best school with a full curriculum
It has been seen that factors like one’s economic and racial background can heavily influence one’s performance on a tests, as they are not given the same opportunities as those given to more affluent students. A student’s emotional well-being is also at stake as many students come out of tests doubting their overall intelligence, even though they were quite confident in the material and so much is hinged on test scores that it places a great deal of pressure on students to do well. Standardized tests also restrict teacher’s ability to learn due to the restrictions that standardized test place on the material being taught, which makes it very hard for teachers to go beyond the required and teach more interesting things. Due to the issues that have arisen from standardized tests many alternative solutions have been used and have been proven to be successful. Some good alternative solutions have been limiting the amount of standardized tests given by sampling a few students, shortening the length of exams, and allotting more time to complete these tests. Other alternatives look to more qualitative approaches in learning by implementing things like projects and portfolios that give an excellent insight to a student’s performance and
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
In modern democratic society school curriculum has become a prioritised concern for many citizens. It is a key factor in the shaping of future generations and the development of society. Decades have lapsed and numerous attempts have been made to produce a national curriculum for Australia. In 2008 it was announced that the Rudd government in collaboration with State and Territories would produce a plan to move towards a national curriculum (Brady & Kennedy, 2010). To date this has been realised in the deliverance of the Australian Curriculum v1.2 which will be examined in this paper.
The development of a national curriculum for Australia is not a new endeavour (Marsh, 2010). The ideal is that national curriculum across Australia would mean that students are provided with a quality education that helps to shape the lives of the nations citizens and continue developing the productivity and quality of life within Australia. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] have the task of developing and implementing a nationwide curriculum. ACARA (n.d.-c) claims have addressed needs of young Australians while considering that changing ways in learning and challenges will continue to shape students education in the future. A look at what the Australian Curriculum is, its purpose, structure and scope, learning theories and teaching processes and whether the curriculum has the capacity to meet the needs of 21st century learners will show that the initial construction of a national curriculum appears to be successful. However, the effectiveness of the Australian Curriculum will only be able to be evaluated in the future after implementation across the country.
Education supports everyone getting opportunities in life and being able to choose better for themselves. As Horace Mann wrote, education is the “great equalizer for all.“ However, the United States Public School system will likely never be able to equally educate its masses of students. Public school educating all fairly is a myth.There is no one entity to blame for this failure. The failure lies with each student who has been conditioned to sit passively in an un-engaging classroom. Its failure lies in some students disrespectfully distracting their classmates and frustrating their once inspired teacher or administrator. The failure lies with administration being distracted with causes of the moment and burns out from knowing that all
For decades, education in America has been focusing on the basics of education which include the bare minimum competencies of reading, literacy, writing, mathematics, and science for students in elementary and secondary schools. In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act reaffirmed the need for basics and pushed for all students to be evaluated based on a set of minimum standards. These standards instituted the need to be tested in a manner so that students from all ethnic and economic backgrounds have the same opportunities. Furthermore, these standards have not included the need to adapt to the continuous change in order to meet the needs of today’s economy and industry. When the focus should be adapting to higher standards of education, public education system still remains the same. Meanwhile, private schools and vocational training gives students a better chance at obtaining a job in today’s world.
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the American educational system has undergone much transition in response to our changing society. Though there have been many problems raised throughout the years in regard to what our school systems should be teaching our children, there have also been many developments.
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
In these changing times one of the biggest aspects of society that should be updated on a regular basis is education. Changes in curriculum as well as methods of teaching need to be revised each and every year. With this idea came the idea of the Common Core State Standard which is currently being adopted by forty-four out of fifty states in the United States. This new rework is designed to help better prepare students for college, universities, and the work place. However, not everyone believes this is the right move education should be taking at this moment. Those in support state this is the best decision possible to teach the children of the 21st century. Others say the cause for the decline in the quality of education in the United States stems from other sociological factors not from how the system is currently being worked. Even more are concerned if schools will be ready for this new wave of change. Will Common Core be effective in helping prepare high school graduates for the future? Only time will tell if the Common Core Standards proves effective in further helping students be prepared for the future.
President Ronald Reagan once described America as, “A Nation at Risk,” He was addressing this statement to the education department thirty years ago and meant it as a wake-up call. He was aware that the United States was falling behind in education and needed to take action in order to prevent the demise of the country. Reagan correctly predicted the grim fate of America if education did not see improvement. Today, research finds that American education is failing to provide the necessary skills to succeed in college and various careers. The quality of education in America is a growing issue and every year graduate students are finding it more difficult to obtain high paying jobs and start his or her career. According to studies conducted globally, the curriculum in America is not as advanced and years behind international schools in countries such as China and Japan. There is much controversy in government over what can be done to reverse the situation in public schools but possible solutions that have been suggested are hiring more qualified teachers, more classroom time, and investing more money into education.
One way to reform public schools would be to forma common curriculum. This means that a government committee comprised of educators, teachers, corporate representatives, book publishers, parents, etc. would decide what classes must be taken by every student to graduate from high school. The courses selected by the committee would cover the basic subjects such as mathematics, science, the English language and composition, government, history, etc. and the level of these required classes would be at a level that graduating students should be able to master. There would be more than enough room to take electives and other classes of interest, but the core classes would be the focus. This gives students enough knowledge to go onto college and obtain jobs in the American knowledge based economy. This would also eliminate the problem of colleges not being able to decipher the multitudes of high school classes and the grade level the classes are at. Opponents to this plan say that this would eliminate any teacher creativity and would drive many educators from the field. This is not entirely true because teachers are already required to teach certain things in their classes and the standards would not be telling them how they have to teach it.
This paper explores a few of the many alternatives to standardized testing within the education system. Also, this research helps the reader understand what standardized exams are, why they are used, and how educators can use other ways of assessing to “test” the children’s/students’ abilities throughout the year. Some of these substitutions may include personal portfolios, developmental benchmarks, and a variety of analyses on comprehension by recording different sessions. Furthermore, this exposition uses research from many different resources to support the importance, credibility, and objectivity of other assessment tools besides standardized test. By reading this composition, one will learn the pros and cons of uniform evaluation implementations and why it is important for everyone’s individual learning and development that standardized testing are no longer required.
Schools must decide how to teach the standardized curriculum. Schools must figure out how to mesh a standardized and non-standardized curriculum. Can students guide their own curriculum and perform well on tests?