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Effectiveness of standardized testing
Standardized testing impact on schools
The benefits of standardized tests
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Standardized Tests Are you tired of spending hours upon hours doing and preparing for standardized tests? Some people say that the testing system is perfect how it is. However, people that think like me say that it needs to be changed. I think that the test system needs to be changed because it is ineffective, it promotes teaching to the test, and is stressful for teachers, students, and schools. Shall we get started? First of all, standardized tests are ineffective. These current tests don’t measure achievement, creativity, verbal skills, or growth. You need these skills for the real world. Standardized tests haven’t changed in the last 100 years! Do you know how many people would be dead if medical tests haven’t changed in that …show more content…
This is basically all that gets taught, so there are very few moments to teach students important life skills, such as the creativity and verbal skills mentioned above. Something else that takes up time with testing is the time for the test preparations.So basically, almost all time in class spent in class for the test only. Teaching to the test needs to stop. Lastly, standardized testing is stressful for students, teachers, parents, and schools. Some students are very intelligent, but the test makes them nervous, so they do poorly. When the kids get stressed, the schools cheat on the scores because the school’s funding is tied to their test scores. One principal and a few teachers from one school were fired and sent to jail because of a scam they pulled involving tests. Why would you want a test that encourages cheating? Standardized tests need be less stressful. Some people say that the tests give you knowledge on how students are doing in school. They say that we need comparison tools for information on how schools are doing side by side. However, the tests are inaccurate, so these tests don’t give you factual information. So even though tests show data, the data isn’t always reliable. This shows why the knowledge you get from the tests is
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.
Argument Against Standardized Testing President Bush is promoting annual standardized testing for all students in grades three through eight. This bill is currently being considered in Congress, and has garnered much support. As of right now, 15 states test students in those grades, and more than 20 have high school exit exams, which look only at the test score of a student, not at his or her academic achievements. Standardized testing is an unfair and inaccurate form of judging a person’s intellect. In many cases, people are either over- or underrepresented by their test scores, partly because America does not currently have the capabilities to fairly score the increasing number of tests.
Imagine sitting in a hot classroom on a hot summer day filling in oval after oval after oval. Sounds boring, standardized testing should not be mandatory. Teachers wait from 1-2 months for results, Students take too many of them, and students have to halt for everyone to finish.
Standardized testing has swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole.... Our children are tested to an extent that is unprecedented in our history and unparalleled anywhere else in the world. While previous generations of American students have had to sit through tests, never have the tests been given so frequently, and never have they played such a prominent role in schooling. (1)
Standardized tests are unnecessary because they are excruciating to the minds of many innocent students. Each year, the tests get tougher and stricter until the students cannot process their own thoughts. The tests become torturous to the minds of those only starting in the world of tests. The students already battling in the war are continuing to fall deeper and deeper into the world of uncreativity and narrowness. As the walls narrow in on them, they are lost and unable to become innovative thinkers. Moreover, the implementation of standardized tests into the public school systems of the United States of America has controversially raised two different views –the proponents versus the opponents in the battle of the effectiveness of standardized tests. Standardized tests require all test takers to answer the same questions; the tests are also scored in a standard manner. Thus, the education system believes that it is fair for everybody to take the same test because it is preparing students for college learning. In reality, intelligence cannot solely be determined by a test score; therefore, standardized tests are ineffective in encouraging learning in educational environments for three reasons: they are stressful, discriminatory, and uncreative.
Authors Amy Witherbee and Denise B. Geier of “Point: Standardized Testing is the best Way to Establish Education Standards” say, “Standardized tests are important, not for the testing, but for the standards. They are, in essence, a benchmark that when properly done, sets out for students, teacher, parents, and a nation, goals for the next generation” (1). Standardized testing can aid in measuring student success, but they are not always an accurate representation of a student’s knowledge or a teacher’s capabilities. The key phrase in their claim is “when done properly”, which is not something that is easily said or done. It is nearly impossible to ensure that the system is not being corrupt, or to prove that everyone is testing the same way, “standardized” or not. Some students are simply not good test takers. They could be the next Einstein, but when it comes to their ACT scores students may seem as though they lack basic knowledge. Other students may be master test takers but have no comprehension of what they are answering. Sure, they know the nucleus is the center of the atom, but do they know what that means? These tests are much less accurate than their supporters may
Standardized Test are not helping students perform in school or out of school in anyway or possible manner. Students should not be required to take theses unnecessary test to provide evidence for school boards to see if the schools are teaching or not. Standardized Test has it reasons though.It helps teachers in the school board know what needs to be taught and what doesnt.
At my high school all students in the tenth grade were required to take the Graduation Qualifying Exam. Many students did not pass the test their first time, and were forced to go through the test up to four more times, and if they did not pass the test in this amount of time, they did not graduate. It is hard to test students in this way since no one was taught the same way all 12 years or learned the same exact things; these differences are why people are different (Popham 2). School is more about testing now, and we have veered away from creative teaching to teach a test. We need to have teachers who inspire kids to want to ...
Did you know that seventy percent of educators of a survey do not regard standardized tests are helpful to their students, and the students agree. Standardized testing began in the late 1800s when entrance exams were used with colleges, and when a French psychologist named Alfred Binet creates a standardized test for intelligence. His test becomes a basis for the modern I.Q. test. Later, standardized testing was moved toward the military to place soldiers in positions best suited for them. Finally, standardized tests came to the educational system in the early 1900s (History of Standardized Testing in the United States). It has continuously been perfected since then, except that there are still problems with the tests themselves and with the
Standardized testing only covers certain areas of education. Most test only include the subjects Math, English, Reading, and Science (Oxford). According to Dr. Gerald W. Bracey, an education researcher, the test lacks content in areas like “creativity, critical thinking, and resourcefulness” (ProCon). It creates a “limited scope of learning and success” (Oxford). The test makers do not take into consideration everything the students have learned during their academic careers (ProCon). They do not factor in external factors that could affect students’ testing. Students could have just gone through a break up or just had a bad day. It is not fair to students who excel in school to have one test determine the rest of their academic career. Taking standardized test “standardizes the mind” (U.S. News). It halts the learning barrier from many students. We measure intelligence based solely on the test nowadays. The test does not measure the way students think. According to book author, Richard Phelps, this “two decades” way of education has contributed to the “raising of academic standards” (Phelps). Although Phelps has a point, the standards of education has only risen based on the “test standards.” As a whole, education is suffering from everyone trying to meet these test standards. It is easy to say the standards are rising if the standards are based on the
Standardized tests only focus on cognitive dimensions and ignore other qualities that are essential to student success. English and Language Arts teachers are known to help students develop skills such as curiosity, thoroughness, perseverance, and sociability. Due to the number of standardized tests that the English and Language Arts teachers are required to administer, they do not have time to focus on those skills (National Council of Teachers of English). Math teachers are not able to teach students how to do skills that they will need in their adult lives, such as how to file taxes and how to write checks. Instead, they must teach their students how to pass a test. Since the adoption of the standardized testing initiatives in recent years, ample amounts of material must be taught by teachers quickly, and they must adapt to changes in technology. Most educators’ performances in the classroom has decreased dramatically due to job security, financial stability, and professional worth (Cox). Teachers depend on their jobs, so they cram massive amounts of curriculum into students in hopes that students excel in the standardized tests just so they can keep their
We all have taken a standardized test at least once in our lifetime. It can be in elementary school, high school or college, such as the SAT, TOFFLE, or the NCEE. The main purpose of these tests is to identify if a student qualifies to move on to the next level of education or to prove their knowledge. Students are expected to know everything they have been taught in their courses. Overall, it’s a way of identifying who has been following up in class and who’s slacking off. Although it seems like a good idea on identifying these students, several bigger problems arise after they sit for the exam. After all, a standardized test does not show the ability of a student. Therefore, this method of assessment should be eliminated.
School Districts in Washington State should remove the requirements of standardized testing. The tests that are taken are not a valid way of showing a student’s complete abilities that are showcased in class. The way that the tests are all the same and some students have only learned some of the materials because of the classes that chose to take in high school don’t teach everything that is on the test. Taking these tests are putting a toll on high school students and causing them stress and anxiety.
Is standardized testing ruining our education system? This is a major topic that is discussed all throughout the United States. Should standardized test be continued? Social views suggest that they should be terminated or lessened.
Standardized tests such as the ACT only put pressure on students’; they are told to get accepted to a college they need to score at least twenty-five or so. That only stresses students’ out because they want to get into a good college. They study like crazy (even though there’s no real way to study for the ACT), and only to end up in the end with a bad score that only shatters their self-confidence. Yes, standardized tests are supposed to determine where students range academically, but the tests do not prove how far students will go in life. Ideally the standardized tests define our futures; this means nothing if we are trained to take the test and succeed. Also, I do not believe that the tests fully measure the intelligence of students. The standardized tests in my opinion only measure how well students are at taking a standardized test (especially the ACT). The No Child Left Behind Act that was passed in 2001 starts testing children early (in elementary and secondary education) to make sure they are learning the basic skills. I remember taking the ISAT’s in elementary school and getting anxiety because the school perceived it as such an important test. As well as getting the scores back, when I didn’t do so well, I remember feeling like I wasn’t smart enough because that’s the way the school talked about the