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Debate surrounding standardized testing
Debate surrounding standardized testing
Effects of standardized tests on curriculum
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“….American schools administer more than one hundred million tests per year” (“Facts” 125). Standardized tests are used frequently across the country in many schools to evaluate students on certain subjects. Usually, students are hammered with test prep by their teachers, as well as stressed to learn everything on time. Teachers worry about teaching to the test so they can have successful students as well not worry about bad test scores jeoprodizing their jobs. But the fact of the matter is that a lot more than studying can go into testing. From scoring/writing errors, to improper handling, the mistakes that can happen in standardized testing are wide. This isn’t a good thing when future classes as well as scholarship eligibility is determined by these tests. But, from causing student stress to scoring errors, standardized tests are causing people to rethink their significance to education. And what many parents and students are finding out, is that these tests are not as good as everyone once thought.
As most people may assume, the preparation for standardized tests is long and time consuming, for both the teacher and the student. For the students, they must be constantly making sure they are on task for their normal schoolwork for the subject, as well as studying outside of class extra time. In some cases, students may have to give up activities they normally love to do (like sports, for example) to study hard for these tests that can dictate their future. This isn’t good for students either, even though they are trying to improve their grades. Since most colleges look for a well-rounded student, a people who quit an activity to focus on a test will be losing the well-rounded advantage on a college application. The student...
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...e time to do what they enjoy. This will lead to more successful schools and students.
Works Cited
"Facts About Standardized Testing." Standardized Testing. Ed. Cynthia A. Bily. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2011. 125-128. Print.
Landau, Elizabeth. "Standardized Tests Are Overemphasized In College Admissions." Standardized Testing. Ed. Cynthia A. Bily. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2011. 93-98. Print.
Layton, Lyndsey. "As High-Stakes Tests Spread, Some Students Drop the Pencil." Washington Post. 15 Apr. 2013: A.12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.
Strauss, Valerie. "Massachusetts Professors Protest High-Stakes Standardized Tests." Washington Post. 22 Feb. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 04 Feb. 2014
Vogell, Heather. "Scoring Errors Jeopardize Tests." Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 22 Sep. 2013: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.
Works Cited http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/17/the-high-stakes-of-standardized-tests/ http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/on_performance/2011/07/why_we_still_need_standardized_testing_post-scandal.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2012/05/02/poor-students-are-the-real-victims-of-college-d
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
A scholarly journal written by an anonymous author sheds light on the importance of standardized testing by showing its efficiency in higher level education. This article provides a solid counterargument for the use of standardized tests which is standardized tests being a good source of predicting grades throughout college as well as whether students will stay long enough to graduate. It is also able to establish that the SAT is effective in forecasting a grade-point average through the fourth year as well as predicting students study habits. The
Miltich, Matthew. "Standardized Testing and Assessment Do Not Improve Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 151-54. Print.
Ravitch, Diane.. "Ravitch: Standardized Testing Undermines Teaching." NPR. NPR, 11 Apr. 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. .
Ruthven, R. (2007, November 7). Is Standardized Testing Hurting Education? Associated Content. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from www.associatedcontent.com/article/438846/is_standardized_testing_hurting_education.html
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
"Study Finds Standardized Tests Hurting Students." Chicago Tribune. 16 Oct. 1992. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
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.
If you are a student in some form of higher education institution, you might have gone through the scary phase of having to take a standardized test to apply for a college, a scholarship program or better still to complete the high school program. Normally good scores in these tests guarantees good scholarships or admission into an institution because the scores from standardize tests are used as a conclusive measure of one’s abilities. But due to the fact that these scores ignores years of hard work and commitment and focuses on just a test, it’s about time we acknowledge standardized tests are not an accurate measure of one’s knowledge.
"Standardized Test Definition." The Glossary of Education Reform. Great Schools Partnership, 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Sacks, Peter. "The Toll Standardized Tests Take." National Education Association. 2000. Web. 2 July 2015.
Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.
Fairtest. (1990). Standardized Tests and our Children: A Guide to Testing Reform. Massachusetts: National Center for Fair and Open Testing.