There are many various issues about the education system which are controversial today. One of these common issues nowadays are schools concentrating on raising standards to evaluate knowledge for students. Many students have been working extremely hard just to achieve higher scores on tests. However, asking students to do many difficult tasks in their studies, is really not helpful now, is it? That is why Alfie Kohn wrote the article, “Confusing Harder with Better”, showing his dissatisfaction with the current educational system. In the article, he complains against “raising the bar”, meaning since they raised standards, teachers are making students memorize facts for tests instead of engaging intellectually with them. In other words, with
“A book may be compared to the life of your neighbor. If it be good, it cannot last too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early.” - Henry Brooke. This quote mimics Mark Aiello’s poem, comparing the first chapter of a book to someone’s childhood, or first chapter of life. Also like the quote, his poem explains how the first chapter of a book is very pleasurable, but it does not last long until the disturbing plot comes into play. Mark Aiello’s poem, “Chapter One”, is very literally about the first chapter of a novel. Furthermore, Aiello’s use of figurative language allows the reader to interpret the poem in numerous ways beyond the main idea. While analyzing the poem, the reader is permitted to compare the first chapter of a book to
Miltich, Matthew. "Standardized Testing and Assessment Do Not Improve Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 151-54. Print.
Education is one of the most important tools that society possesses. The right implementation of this tool is one of the greatest ways of assuring the quality of life within a society. The ability to better ourselves, is one of the strongest inherit abilities of the human race. At its most basic definition, education is nothing more than the teaching of ideas. The early stages of schooling instill more attitude and social skills than knowledge. The younger stages of a person's life are usually the most definable years of their lives. As the age and skill level of the student increases, more education is based upon the interest of the student. For society to progress and excel, every generation must learn just a little more. Education is important and the ways that it is tested should show the most accurate measure of achievement. SOL's (Standards of Learning) is the testing I am going to explain, and why it should not be required in high school as a form of measurement of a students achievement.
Standardized testing requires student to answer same or similar questions with given answer choices that are often in multiple choice or true or false form. Dating back from 2200 B.C standardized testing is recorded being used in China ,where people applying for government jobs had to take an examination ,testing their knowledge on confucian philosophy and poetry.During the mid-1800s in Industrial Revolution ,soon after child labor laws were enacted taking children out of farms and factories and putting them into schools the use of standardized test was introduced to America in Boston. Standardized testing was being used to compare schools and teaching quality; Boston’s program was soon adopted nation wide. Types of standardized test including the most common achievement tests and aptitude test. Achievement test measure the progress a student has made academically in a time period. Whereas an aptitude test attempt to predict a student’s ability to succeed academically.Standardized test are used on a large scale because computers can score them quickly, consistently, and inexpensively rather than open ended essay questions which need to be evaluated essay by essay, though essay questions allow for deeper thinking.The purpose for standardized testing is to create a standard on which all students can learn equally,but in “The Real threat to American Schools” by Alfie Kohn, the author claims that idea of standards might not be true. The author makes an interesting point in that if the possibility that all students met the state standards and passed all the tests would those students be considered ‘perfectly educated’ of would the politicians and test takers believe instead that the test was too easy and the standards were too low. B...
Today, schools are making it a priority for teachers to follow the strict guidelines of a “one size fits all testing curriculum.” Educators must prepare students for the tests that could make or break their future. This curriculum is focused only on teaching students what they need to know in order to pass the test. “Because the test is based largely on the memorization of facts, teachers will have to teach their students these specific facts instead of teaching for deep comprehension and understanding of material.” (Martin, 309) As a result, students do not learn the true lesson. Although it is highly important that students pass “the test,” this strictly based curriculum is ignoring the important academic skills and fundamentals needed for their future, even beyond the years of high stakes testing; without these needed skills students will be left in the dark once they have graduated from high school. Students often learn on different levels and their educational requirements are not being met with the “one size fits all” approach. Those who create these tests tend not to include those who learn on a different educational level; rather their focus is pointed towards the money rather than on the success of all students. Children need to learn sk...
Lyndsey Layton has been covering nation education since 2011, she has written on many different topics in education, and has been employed by the Washington Post since 1998. In her article about standardized testing she states, “...students should be judged by multiple measures, including student work, written teacher observations and grades. And they overwhelmingly think teacher quality is the best way to improve education, followed by high academic standards and effective principals.” (Layton pg.1). This quote shows that standardized tests only judge certain measures of a student's intelligence. Students should be graded in multiple areas not just how well they can answer multiple choice problems. Standardized tests only grade students on one way of thinking and discourage creative, out of the box thinking. Kira Zalan is an editor for the U.S. News Weekly, she first appeared in September of 2011, and has been writing since. Zalan states, “...there are multiple paths to the same outcome and that engagement is an extremely important aspect of the equation.”(Zalan pg.1). Standardized tests only allow for one path of thinking. There can be multiple different ways to find an answer, but if students do not answer the “correct” way they will be graded as wrong. Because these tests are graded by machines and not people, the participants answers
Standardized tests are a tremendous part of most schools’ curriculum in the United States today. These tests are assessments of students’ knowledge on either one or more subjects. Standardized tests are a performance evaluation of students, teachers, and schools due to their importance. A standardized test is distinctive from other tests in two ways. One, it has common questions being answered in the same way and two, it is being scored in a consistent style allowing for comparative performance. Through extensive research Oliver’s and Visone’s statements and overall research have several key differences that shape their own separate arguments. Though their thesis and hypothesis have the same underlying idea that there is a problem with` standardized
Standardized testing has become a dominant element in the education world. It is now used not only to judge a student’s knowledge but to judge the effectiveness of a school system’s teaching. Standardized testing is not an accurate or efficient way to judge a student’s intelligence or a school system’s instructional abilities.
The issue of standardized testing has been a highly debated issue in the United States for many years and shows no sign of being resolved any time soon. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 was an effort to standardize and improve our education system, but 13 years later it is still in shambles. While many people agree there is a need for some sort of measure for quality education, there is much disagreement about the effectiveness of standardized tests. Some even say federal programs like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have gone too far in using test scores to evaluate teachers (Gordon 2013). Unfavorable results from these tests seem to generate more punitive consequences for the teachers and schools than help for the students. The words “high-stakes” are used often in numerous sources to describe the current testing system and refer to decisions that will make a significant impact on both students and teachers. These decisions include repeating a grade or not receiving a diploma for the student and possible loss of a job for the teacher. Standardized testing is an ineffective and expensive way to measure student achievement.
Schools are put under the pressure of meeting standards that maintain the students’ current level of intelligence. When placed in a classroom of varying levels of knowledge the teacher must teach at a level that all students can understand. The government and higher administration hold the schools responsible for the advancement of a student’s intelligence, while the teachers hold the students responsible for their performance. Yet, the state and district also hold the students responsible for their grades, courses, school work, test scores, and attendance. Therefore, a student is held accountable for their education from all aspects....
In the United States, standardized testing is used to measure how knowledgeable or unknowledgeable a person is in a particular subject. Standardized tests are exams designed to measure a student’s scholastic performance. These tests are a controversial issue, because some people feel the test do not show the students’ intelligence. I am one of these people. What the test may cover may not be what the students have learned in class. However, some critics feel “that standardized tests allow administrators, teachers, and parents the opportunity to view solid evidence of the students’ performance, which in turn could lead to curriculum changes” (Banta, p.1). Standardized tests also create unnecessary stress for students. These tests require students to study or cram for many hours and puts them in a demanding social setting where they are forced to answer difficult questions.
As child growing up some of the frightful memories include a visit to the dentist; an evil man with scary drill whose solve purpose is to hurt you or the first day in elementary school you finally leave all behind the cozy classrooms and nap times of kindergarten and enter the big leagues. All of these are considered a cakewalk compared to standardize testing. Since the start of elementary school students in the United States are taught to test. In many instances students are held back or placed in remedial classes because of lower grades. But many don’t realize that some students are not great at testing taking and because of the lower grades some educators believe that these students are lower achievers. This leads to lower self-esteem and encourage students to drop out in later years. Also students are forced to memorize information merely as facts without sparking their creativity or enhancing their knowledge.
In teaching to get an ‘f’, the writer, Steven Slon, tells a story of how he almost killed his son’s teacher. Why you ask, well she single handedly killed the student’s appetite for learning. He immediately had the principle change her curriculum to a more flexible one, this lead to the increase in curiosity of the child to want to learn again and gain knowledge (Slon 47-49). What this shows is that a teaching with a curriculum that takes the fun out of learning can be detrimental to a child that wants to learn and can push them away from school. The same can be said if you bombard students with testing, doing that will have the same effect as the boring curriculum. Now that we know that testing is not working why do we still do it? Sir Robinson brings an interesting idea, which is that it is all a political game. He says,” that education should be taken out of the hands of Politian’s, because they do not have an interest in education, all they want is to have hig...
Although standardized testing is commonly used in most schools and educational intuitions nowadays, it does not measure a student’s intelligence. As such, standardized testing should be revoked because, not only is it an unreliable way of measuring a student’s performance, it also pressures educators and creates a grade conscious mindset. Schools should focus more on the development of students, rather than ranking them based on the grades they receive on a test. Not only are standardized tests an undependable way of grading, but also, it does not promote life skills the student will need when growing
Because of the importance placed on how students perform on the standardized tests, teachers tend to alter the strategy; they use to offer instructions and also the content in the curriculum, so students can perform better on the tests (Karr-Kidwell, Meadows and Stacie 4). The tests discourage students who do not perform well even if they were performing well in their schools. For example, students perform well in their schools but this performance is not the same in the standardized tests. Most people who get good grades in school end up failing after they seat for the standardized tests (Boaler 503). The academic system fails to address poor performance in schools and concentrate more on how schools are rated in relation to the standardized tests. Students keep failing in schools, and they become less successful in life because they did not receive the help they needed in