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Effects of stress on academic performance
Effects of stress on academic performance
Flaws with standardized testing
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Has your kid or if you are a student, gotten great grades on most test but then just bombed one test? It might not be because they don’t understand it, the student may not know it but they are just not a good test taker, they had a bad day, panicked in the test, the test was not the right level or something happened at home. The New York Times says “It is entirely possible for students to fail tests on such topics and still have, the mathematical abilities or historical knowledge we want.” If the child still has the abilities then why should you take that one test so seriously that their grade goes down? It could have been just because they were nervous at the time. According to education researcher Gregory J. Cizek, anecdotes abound "illustrating how testing... produces gripping anxiety in even the brightest students, and makes young children vomit or cry, or both." This happens so much in Sacramento Bee that teachers are trained to clean vomit off of a test. …show more content…
Because of this, the schools test scores will be flawed and that will not look well on the school. If the school just took a little time for the kid to calm down and get themselves under control I bet their test scores would look better. Parents may say test scores are what we were judged by, so there must be evidence that shows test are accurate? According to the National Research Council report they found no evidence test-based incentive programs are working: "Despite using them for several decades, policymakers and educators do not yet know how to use test-based incentives to consistently generate positive effects on achievement and to improve education." Also, in the manner of questioning test says the New York Times, “There is also the question of whether any standardized test is adequate or needed to evaluate certain sorts of student
Students and teachers both can have anxiety about testing. Teachers can be worried about the students’ performance on a test – a test that does not measure a student’s intelligence unless the student is good at taking tests. A student might be a gifted musician, artist, or athlete, but if they do not pass a standardized test, they are considered unfit for most colleges. Moreover, since the test is so important and they do not want to fail, students might be nervous while taking this test and because of this, they might not perform as well as they could. Also, a student’s self-esteem and self-worth can be lowered if they do not do well on a standardized test. This can be for two different reasons. One, a student might have thought they had done better on the test and the results could not be what they expected and they could feel like a failure. This can cause a student’s self-esteem to be lowered. Two, they might become worried about their future if they don’t receive a high score. There are many students who have the pressure of their family to do well and if they do not, they might become depressed. Even President Obama thought that standardized testing was not a good way to do things. Taken from an article written by Jonathan Glover (2016) of The
This is precisely the problem. Standardized tests are old and outdated, and the harm they cause to America’s education system by far outweighs the benefits. These tests were intended to monitor and offer ways to improve how public schools function, but instead they have impaired the natural learning ability of students and imposed upon the judgment of experienced educators. Although a means to evaluate the progress of public schools is necessary, it is also necessary to develop more modern and effective ways of doing so. Standardized testing mandated by the federal and state governments has a negative effect on the education of America’s youth.
The reason for high stakes testing in schools was to see where students stood academically. It was made to check on the progress and status of whether teachers and staff were doing their job as they are responsible for a child’s learning. In 2002, George W. Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Act. Each state had to come up with their own testing systems for students to meet certain standards. This was influenced by Red Paige who was superintendent at Houston I.S.D. Accountability was their main goal with this kind of testing. Texas tests are created by Sandy Kress who teamed up with Pearson. The current test outraging the opposed side is the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) test. Kress came up with this test because people felt that the previous TAKS test was not helping students with college readiness. The STAAR test counts towards 15% of a student’s grade (Blakeslee 126). It is a harder test and Texas is a state with the most exit level exams as it is. Even though people disagree with this test even more, Kress and his followers believe that the test is not failing students, but their teachers are. Defenders can be pretty harsh and blunt about why the STAAR should stay. Bill Hammond made a stat...
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.
Standardized tests compare students in different states, districts, and schools. The comparisons lead to “unhealthy competition among the schools” (Pros and Cons 2). In the article, “Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing,” it is stated that “Federal funds are given only to those that perform well” (2). This makes the pressures in schools very high and makes the schools evaluate the performance of the teachers and students constantly. “Low scores can prevent a student from progressing to the next grade level or lead to teacher firings and school closures, while high scores ensure continued federal and local funding and are used to reward teachers and administrators with bonus payments” (Use of Standardized Tests 5). Standardized tests give parents a good idea of how well their students are doing and learning. It also leads to exaggerated reports of success. In Jonathan Pollard’s article he says “Consider this passage taken directly from Kohn’s book:” Then it states how when a test is first administered and scores are low, headlines are bad. Then in a few years the scores go up and the headlines are good. Finally, the scores level off or they substitute a new test and the scores drop. Causing the headlines to be bad again. Kohn then states that “This is not due to a change in the competency of teachers, or level of instruction. This is simply the process of students and teachers acclimating to the tests” (Pollard 4).
Standardized tests should not be used to measure student proficiency. These tests are becoming much more challenging and high stakes, resulting in a significant amount of stress and anxiety in students. Standardized testing has become a huge weight on students which is leading to test anxiety. Jasmine Evans writes in her article “Problems With Standardized Testing,” from Education.com about critics of the No Child Left Behind, an act passed in 2001 one under the administration of George W. Bush, who say that there is a lot of pressure on teachers, students, and parents, and school officials as a result of these tests. They say the pressure to...
The United States is ranked in the Top 5 of the world, having the most intelligent people in the world. Being one of the most intellegent countries, our education system is not far from those being ranked higher and lower than the United States. Most countries around the world gives their student what is known as a Standerized Test. A Standerized Test is a test given according to standerized procedures to students who's scores are then compared with a given standard. Students have been challenged annually by these test, and most students do not score in the acceptable range in the United States which can affect schools tremendously. Schools around the country would take their students scores to see where students have difficulty at most. Teachers do not know how to prepare their students for these assessments and students are just willing to give up due to the lack of preperation for these test. If the United States is ranked as one of the smartest countries in the world, it is impossible to think that most students do not come to par with the expected scores from these test. Schools aren’t benefitting from these tests anymore because students are just dropping out or not taking the test as serious. Districts are starting to close down schools because of low results of the majority of classes. The parents do not know what to do and can not help about this topic anymore since the government has enforced almost every school to take these standardized tests. Schools also depend on these tests greatly and are unable to notice the other skills and knowledge the students have. Are these standardized test really beneficial to the public school systems?
On each test instruction booklet handed to the teachers on test day, there is a section including what to do if a student throws up during a test. For this section to be included, it is obvious that testing has caused students in the past to stress themselves out to the point of being sick. Students are spend most of the year preparing to take one or two big tests in the end. The amount of pressure put on students to succeed on these tests is astronomical, making it impossible to focus on the actual goal of assessing their knowledge. A student in Florida spoke to her school board about the absurd expectations from these tests, “Every year I do good in school, but I get low test scores on the FCAP and it feels like a punch in the stomach. This is unfair and I don't want to lose my opportunity to take my advanced classes or get a better education because of this one test.” (Locker) Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these test do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a
Despite the view that there is too much standardized testing, a majority of respondents said parents should not excuse their children from tests. A majority also said they think test scores are "somewhat important" in judging the effectiveness of their local schools.
Almost state has gained federal funding from accumulating the test data from all of their schools (Ravitch 107). Data collected from multiple choice questions determines the intelligence of every student and their teachers. The test data is tracked throughout their lifetime in relation to their test scores, graduation dates and other statistics companies such as Amazon and Microsoft use to evaluate different groups (by age, ethnicity, etc) as a whole (Ravitch 107). Ravitch claims there are many problems with this, mainly, tests do not measure character, spirit, heart, soul, and potential (112). Not everyone is the same, and just because one may be weak in math or writing doesn’t mean they’re not smart, resourceful individuals with much to share with the world. For schools to be even seen with a slight amount more than just their test scores, they have to be in great standings with their students’ average test results. The government’s intense focus on test results hurts schools’ ability to be a well-rounded school immensely. In contrast to federal’s pinpoint focus on what students learn, educated consumers desire their kids to have a full, balanced, and rich curriculum (Ravitch 108). Schools need to be more than housing for test-takers. The Education Board may claim students’ proficiency in their testing makes them better people, prepares them for college, and ultimately, the workforce. What they are
Parents and advocates of education can all agree that they want their students to be in the best hands possible in regards to education. They want the best teachers, staffs, and schools to ensure their student’s success. By looking at the score results from standardized testing, teachers can evaluate effectively they are doing their job. On the other side, a proponent for eliminating standardized testing would argue that not all students care passionately about their education and will likely not perform to expectations on the test. However, receiving the numerical data back, teachers can construe the student’s performances and eliminate the outliers of the negligent kids. Teachers can then look at the individual scores and assign those outliers to get the help they need in school. This helps every student getting an equal chance at education. Overall, taking a practice standardized test can let a teacher look at individual questions and scores and interpret what they need to spend more time on teaching. A school also can reap the benefits from standard testing to ensure they are providing the best possible education they can. The school can look at the average scores from a group and hold the teacher accountable for the student’s results on the test. The school can then determine the best course of action to pursuit regarding the teacher’s career at the school. By offering teachers and schools the opportunity to grow and prosper, standardized testing is a benefit for the entire education
Standardized testing is not the best way to measure how well a teacher teaches or how much a student has learned. Schools throughout the United States put their main focus on standardized tests; these examinations put too much pressure on the teachers and students and cause traumatizing events. Standardized testing puts strain on teachers and students causing unhealthy occurrences, Common Core is thrown at teachers with no teaching on how to teach the new way which dampers testing scores for all students, and the American College Test determines whether a child gets into college or not based on what they have learned during high school. Standardized tests are disagreeable; tests should not determine ranking of people.
Don’t you think students should take standardized tests? To start with standardized tests make sure schools are doing good. It also helps students prepare for later on in school such as elementary school, middle school, high school, and even collage. Even though it takes a while to get the test results back it only takes about 2 days to test. If students didn't take standardized tests how would you know how much they have progressed through the year.It will also give you preperation for next year.Sometimes the time depends on how long the students take to test. It not only tells you how good kids are doing but how well the teachers are teaching. It also shows and helps to know what subjects students are struggling in and what they're succeeding
There is added pressure to schools to get better scores which adds pressure to the educators and the students. The added pressure can cause health problems with the students or the educators. If health problem come from the stress of the tests it could negatively affect the student’s ability to learn (Pros and Cons, 2013). The test itself is a problem as well. The test is supposed to be unbiased based on the grade level but in most cases the test is not. As much as they try...
When speaking about having test scores as an indication of a school’s competency, everything will be based on the school. The school will have to have something to base it on themselves in order to have the results. This is where it becomes unacceptable. The fact that the whole process puts the school in a jam will make the school fall to the employees for the work. This process leads to teacher evaluations. No one likes to be put under pressure in the classroom. To be put under pressure causes more stress than needed on the teachers behalf. How is a teacher supposed to make students perform proficiently on tests? There are many different cases that can cause a good student to have bad test results. Students may have a lack of determination. Determination is a big factor in attaining success and lack of determination can cause one to fail. Determination is something that cannot be taught nor forced on a student by their teacher. It is something they want to have in order to do good in scho...