Standardized Testing

1289 Words3 Pages

A major controversy within the world of education is the type of role which assessments should play in the elementary classroom. The dispute whether tests should be the main form in which students are assessed is widely deliberated. Students who are just getting adjusted to school are thrown into standardized test in second grade and are expected to take math quizzes in grades as young as kindergarten. Is this overly stimulating students to the world of testing or is this what they need in order to succeed? The argument can be contested on either side, but in reality, students at these young ages should not have their grades weighed most heavily on results of their tests. There are many other effective ways in order to determine a student’s …show more content…

With the idea of standardized testing, teachers have to start “teaching to the test” and holding off on other important lessons, due to the fear of their students not doing well. Because math and reading are required test subjects under the No Child Left Behind Act, these subjects become more important and everything else to put on the back-burner. According to the annual reports of the NCLB, “71% of districts are reducing time spent on other subjects in elementary schools- at least to some degree,” (Jennings, 2006). The subject being most affected by this is social studies, which is becoming a less prominent subject in elementary classrooms, although it is still vital in a student’s learning process and understanding the world. Although testing should be exposed to young students as they will need to be experienced in test taking skills later on in life, making this the top choice in assessments and taking away time for other subjects to focus on testing does not teach the whole student and will not guarantee a well-rounded education. Students should be exposed to all subjects and also different types of assessments and ways in which they can evaluate their own …show more content…

This is the range of data and information collected based on the child’s social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. This strategy allows for the teacher to understand what the students know as well as see where adjustments in their instruction may be needed. There are multiple different ways to collect this information, for example: having consequential unit goals and essential questions, writing prompts, presentations and portfolios, and student ownership, which leads to the next type of assessment being discussed. Self- assessment is an alternative type of evaluation which should be considered over constant testing. “Student self-assessment serves cognitive purposes, then, but it also promises to increase students’ responsibility for their own learning and to make the relationship between teachers and student more collaborative,” (Shepard, 2000). By doing this, students are able to feel in charge of their own learning and do not feel completely ruled by their teacher. This also shows the teacher what individual students feel the most comfortable doing and will then open the door to helping those students in areas where they feel they are not as strong. For example, allowing students the ability to choose between a paper or a presentation would should the teacher, who feels comfortable with their writing and who feels comfortable with their speaking. Those

Standardized Testing: A Limited Measure of Success
840 Words | 2 Pages
Michele Obama once stated, “If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn 't be here. I guarantee you that.” The First Lady is, in other words, to say that standardized testing was a major factor into her life’s outcome and her scores could have potentially not put her in her position of power that she is highly recognized in today’s society. Although standardized tests do play a large role in any college application, standardized testing may not count as much toward one’s college admissions or success because standardized tests are not the only factor toward college applications, these tests only benefit a specific target group of people, and standardized tests are better used for giving insight on one’s
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Annotated Bibliography On Standardized Testing
1210 Words | 3 Pages
She explains how standardized tests, such as the one her students took, were designed with numerous interference techniques, included questions which were above-grade material, and were administered with inadequate time to answer the questions being presented. Stahlman goes on to express her frustration with a standardized test which was administered to her students by saying "I watched in horror as my precious students, who were gifted poets and writers, inquisitive scientists and mathematicians, lovers of books, remarkable artists, and caring learners, were forced to silently attempt to master a test that was designed to trip them up." (Stahlman 242) The author also states how these standardized tests seem to be high-stakes in nature due to schools being labeled and ranked according to their scores and teachers being rewarded due to their students achievement in these tests. This article serves as one of my stronger arguments for my case compared to my other sources, due to its exemplification of how the proliferation of such tests is alarming and how the standardized testing of students at such a young age is not appropriate due to their cognitive development. The article is also useful in the sense that is provides a valid and sound argument for the opposition of standardized testing. I will be implementing this source into my argumentative essay by providing examples from Stahlman's text on how bizarre standardized testing might seem when it comes to the assessment of students, especially at such a young age. It will also serve as a good source for proving how much of a bearing standardized tests hold on the assessment of not only students but teachers as
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Standardized Testing: The Real Threat to American Schools by Alfie Kohn
1319 Words | 3 Pages
Though standardized testing has played a part in America's education system it took several tries before it played such a large role in education like it does today. The No child left Behind Act of 2002 was the foot hold standardized testing needed in order to be implemented into schools at a national level with such force. During the 1990’s the U.S felt as though it was falling behind on the Programme for International Assessment. “After No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, the US slipped from 18th in the world in math on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in reading”(walker 1).
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Opting Out Of Standardized Test Rizga Summary
1021 Words | 3 Pages
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
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Cultural Bias In Assessment
1891 Words | 4 Pages
In the society of today, there are various educators who believe in assessment as proper method to measure the performance of a child in school as well as the overall achievement of a specific school system. The assessment may be presented in the form of verbal, written, or multiple choice, and it usually pertains to certain academic subjects in the school curriculum. Recently, many educators began to issue standardized tests to measure the intelligence of a common student body. (Rudner, 1989) These standardized tests were initially created to reveal the success in institutional school programs, and exhibit the abilities of students today. The standardized tests can reveal the strengths and weaknesses of a student as well as the admission into certain programs. The test results also assist various schools in determining the proper curriculum, evaluate a specific school system, or a particular school related program.
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The Negative Impact of High Stakes Standardized Testing
1200 Words | 3 Pages
High-stakes standardized testing greatly impacts the environment in which students learn. When such a huge emphasis is placed on these tests and scoring well on them, it often creates, in excess, unnecessary anxiety and stress. In Florida alone the number of different standardized tests given to students spanned across kindergarten through 12th grade has increased to over sixteen. Often students are faced with the harsh realization that not scoring well can mean the difference from a pass and fail grade. That kind of pressure can lead to a complete shutdown of their learning. Although students are heavily impacted by the pressure and anxiety that accompanies standardized testing, they are not the only ones. Teachers not unli...
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High Stakes Testing
1319 Words | 3 Pages
Throughout this paper, I will be discussing how important high stakes testing is to our country. First, I will show how these tests prevent students from moving on to the next grade level or graduate without the skills necessary. Secondly, I will discuss how they improve students’ achievement. And lastly, I will describe how these tests keep teachers and schools accountable.
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Standardized Tests
1283 Words | 3 Pages
Teachers spend time on the memorization of specific words that will be on the state test, not vocabulary building exercises. Educators have pep rallies that take educational time away from lesson plans and teaching in order to have the students learn cheers expressing how well they are going to do on the state test. Excess teacher and administration time is spent figuring out game plans, but not for teaching students, rather for figuring out how to increase test scores. Meanwhile, when students are truly excited about exploring a topic in depth, they are shut down because there is no time to learn, only time to memorize items that might be on these tests. Standardized tests waste classroom time and do not accurately measure student achievement; they inaccurately measure academic success, are a poor predictor of future success, and do nothing except hinder the learning process of students.
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Standardized Testing
179 Words | 1 Pages
In her article “Why Poor Schools Can’t Win at Standardized Testing,” Meredith Broussard examines the devastating effects of uneven distributions of school funds and how it is tied to test scores for underprivileged students. The cycle of poverty takes on a context of education because in order to get funding for their schools, students must perform well on standardized testing. However, the schools themselves cannot afford the expenses for their students to even access the resources needed to succeeded on such tests. The complexities surrounding unequal school funding can no longer be ignored due to its inevitable domino effect on the problems of the education system, one after the other; thus people should not stand by and tolerate such unfairness
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Standardized Testing
835 Words | 2 Pages
Income and reading have a huge impact on why some students do better than others on standardized tests. Researchers conducted a survey to collect data through home observations and interviews. “The results reported help explain why low-income White students usually have higher mean scores on standardized tests than middle-income African Americans and why middle-income White students have higher mean scores than upper-income African Americans” (Jairrells 2). Researchers use the terms “poor” and “non-poor” to determine the status of families. This survey showed a greater percentage of poor white families having ten or more books in their home than non-poor African American families (Jairrells 3). Some families read more to their children because
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Standardized Testing
858 Words | 2 Pages
“It’s test day, kids and today’s test will cover only everything we have learned all semester.” is what the average student hears and understands on the morning of the dreaded exam, having their jaw dropped on the teacher’s emphasis on the “only everything” part of her sentence. While the teacher is handing out the exam papers, the students persist and force themselves to keep their eyes open, as a result of them cramming information into their heads until 2 am the night before. Many people believe this is what happens and create a stereotype of standardized tests as pressuring and just a robotic type of process of memorizing information. But this is not necessarily the case. Over the years, the standardized
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Standardized Testing
934 Words | 2 Pages
In education policy dictates, and drives the “why” of campuses in America. The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) is an educational policy that has a major impact on educators, learners and communities across the country. This bill was signed into law in 2002. The bill’s intent was to increase student academic achievement by campuses closing academic gaps of various sub-populations. To measure this yearly progress the state issues all students a test based on standards set by the state. In Texas students are the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test. Next, data are compiled from math and reading scores. After scores are compiled campuses are assigned distinctions based on the percentage of closing academic gaps of
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What Is Formative Assessment?
1297 Words | 3 Pages
Assessments have always been a tool for teachers to assess mastery and for a long time it was just to provide a grade and enter it into the grade book or report card. Through resources in and out of the course, there has been a breath of new life into the research on how to use assessments. They take many forms and fall within the summative or formative assessment category. Sloan (2016) addresses how formative assessments has traditionally been used by teachers to modify instruction, but when we focus on a classroom that is learner-centered “it becomes assessment for learning as opposed to assessment of learning” (slide 4). The fact is, the students are the ones that should be and are the ones using the data we collect through assessments, since it is our way of providing feedback in order
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Pros Of Game Based Assessment
994 Words | 2 Pages
“All students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day in the same way”, this quote by William G Spady, a sociologist, gives a brief yet thoughtful description why standardized testing is not the way to go. Sending your child to school was always so that he or she could learn and get a good education but that’s not the case anymore; it’s all about how well he or she does on their test. Instead of the government forcing and pressurizing students to take the standardized testing, there are many alternative ways that will allow students to enjoy taking part of assessments and learn more. I propose a new form of testing that will allow students to be more creative and better their problem solving skills which is game based assessments.
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Classroom Assessments
2426 Words | 5 Pages
As teachers, we have to monitor the progress our students make each day, week, quarter and year. Classroom assessments are one of the most crucial educational tools for teachers. When assessments are properly developed and interpreted, they can help teachers better understand their students learning progress and needs, by providing the resources to collect evidence that indicates what information their students know and what skills they can perform. Assessments help teachers to not only identify and monitor learners’ strengths, weaknesses, learning and progress but also help them to better plan and conduct instruction. For these reasons, ongoing classroom assessment is the glue that binds teaching and learning together and allows educators to monitor their efficacy and student learning.
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Standardized Testing