Standardized Testing: Helper Of Education
What gives the purchase of prep books a huge boost? What drives the students stay up late at night? What creates the atmosphere of nervousness in classrooms? The answer to these mysteries is quite ordinary: the approaching standardized tests. Standardized test is a type of test which give all test takers the same set of questions and scores the answers based on a standardized grading system. Popular standardized tests for schoolers in the United States include SAT, ACT, GRE and so on. Nowadays, standardized testing is often viewed as a momentous part of school life. Students need scores from standardized tests for getting into a school, passing a class, graduating, or other educational circumstances.
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People often hold different opinions and may disagree over whether a quality is beneficial or detrimental (Suematsu 8). For instance, in the United States, a leader is commonly an extroverted public speaker. Meanwhile in Japan, a leader is often with few words (Suematsu 3). It is impossible to say which culture is right and which culture is wrong to teach.Therefore students can only be tested on objective measures such as knowledge mastery in class (Suematsu 8). Standardized scores are separate from a person’s character. Instead, it is often the person himself or herself who jumps to conclusions associating scores with how good a student is (Suematsu 9). The purpose of test scores are only to measure whether a high school graduate has mastered enough knowledge for his or her future plan as an adult (Walberg 1). Whether or not a student is accepted by a school should not be based on a subjective evaluation of character. Only objective test scores can be controlled by hard work. Hence, standardized testing is a fair and verifiable way to assess a student’s academic achievements in comparison to unfixed measures of
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.
“Students are taking between ten and twenty standardized tests, depending on the grade. A total average of one hundred thirteen different ones by graduation.”(Locker) A few years ago the United States, along with other nations, was given a test to assess the academic strengths and weaknesses of each nation and rank them accordingly. When the results were released and the United States was ranked near the bottom, it was decided to start incorporating more testing through school. Between benchmark, TLI, PARCC, and common core standards, teaching technique was forced to change. Standardized testing has had a negative effect on teachers and students, implementing inadequate grading standards and the common core curriculum, such testing has made
Tests are called "high-stakes" when they used to make major decisions about a student, such as high school graduation or grade promotion. Tests are called "standardized" when all students answer the same questions under similar conditions and their responses are scored in the same way. Research has shown that high-stakes testing causes damage to individual students and education. It is not a reasonable method for improving schools. Test-taking anxiety is common among high school and college students.
Almost every high school student will take it: the standardized test. Tests like the SAT and ACT are used to measure how well a student will do in his or her college life, but these tests are not always accurate. There are many different types of students and most of the high scores and low scores correlate to certain groups of students which is why some argue these tests are biased. Standardized tests, especially the ones that measure college success, are not as effective at ranking a student’s academic ability as many people believe. Standardized tests prevent students from proper learning in the classroom and they cannot equally measure every kind of student’s intelligence.
On the contrary, there are better ways to determine if a student has a keen success in their education. According to a study conducted by The National Center for Fair and Open Testing observed that “students with higher high school GPAs performed better in college, regardless of drooping test scores in their records” (Brown 1). This research means that Standardized Testing
According to Educator Bill Ayers, “Standardized tests ignore the most important characteristics of being a good learner or a good person. "What they can measure and counts,” he says, “are isolated skills, specific facts and functions, the least interesting and least significant aspects of learning" (Pollard). All test takers answer the same questions under the same conditions which results in quick and superficial answers, because all students reason and process differently. Standardized tests treat students as if they are all identical. Every student...
By definition, a standardized test is any test that is administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. Schools use two main types, aptitude and achievement. Aptitude tests are meant to predict how well students are going to perform in a subsequent educational setting while achievement tests are to evaluate a school's effectiveness. Standardized tests have been a controversial issue in the United States since the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated annual testing in all 50 states. The use of these tests has begun to not only affect the form of education but the level of knowledge students are taking away from their educational experience. Although standardized testing is used throughout the country, it is an unreliable measure of education and is dramatically changing the curricula causing a creativity crisis.
Throughout the United States standardized testing is a popular way that educators measure a student’s academic ability. Although it may seem like a good idea to give a bunch of students the same test and see how each one does, it is not that simple. The results do not represent how smart a student is or a student's potential to do great things in the real world. In taking a standardized test one student may have a greater advantage over another for many reasons. Reasons that are not shown in the standardized test score.
Standardized tests are administered to allow reliable and valid comparisons to be made among students taking the test. Two major types of standardized tests are currently in use; norm-referenced and criterion-referenced. A norm-referenced test is a test that has been given to representative samples of students such that norms of performance are established. Each student taking the test receives a score that can be compared to the norm or normal or sample of students. The scores are then reported in percentiles. The main purpose of these tests is to rank students along a distribution of performance. Because of this tests are likely to have items that are very difficult for the grade level so students can be ranked. A criterion-referenced test looks like a norm-referenced test but multiple choice items are used and directions are standardized. The reason these tests are administered is based upon the content that all students are expected to learn. Scores are based on the amount learned by the student and a passing score is then given. These scores are not compared to other students. Standardized tests are used to show how a student is doing. They can show if a program is working well and can show if the educators are using effective teaching methods. Schools are graded to see if there overall program is helping the student to achieve their goals. In the next paragraphs I am going to explain to you about the purpose of the American College Testing Program (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
What exactly is standardized testing you may ask, it is a test which measures the knowledge among different students. There are many different standardized test in many different forms. High school standardized test include the SAT, ACT, and the awful dreaded FCAT. There are also standardized test in many different fields such as Medical (MCATs) or the standardized test needed to enter law school (LSATs). Most of these test are needed to get excepted into a certain school you want to go to or to get a scholarship.
One of the biggest topics in the educational world is standardized tests. All fifty states have their own standards following the common core curriculum. There are many positives and negatives that go with the standardized tests. A standardized test is any type of “examination that's administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, 1999). These standardized tests are either aptitude tests or achievement tests. Schools use achievement tests to compare students.
First let's start off with what standardized testing is. “A standardized test is any test that requires test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from a common of questions, in the same way, and that is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of individual students or groups of
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a standardized test is defined as "a test, administered according to standardized procedures, that assesses a student's aptitude by comparison with a standard". These supposedly identical testing procedures are meant to ensure the reliability of the results, so they can be used to further students’ education. However, evidence suggests that standardized testing isn’t benefiting schools and students as it was intended to. Overall, standardized testing is unnecessary because it negatively affects students by inadequately preparing them for further education, burdening them with additional stress in high school, and the tests are generally a waste of money and resources.
Standardized Testing: Improving or Hurting Education. “Standardized test can't measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and function, the least interesting and least significant aspects of learning.” Standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a standard manner. In 1959 the ACT were offered for the first time.
Standardized tests do not improve student skills. There is a plethora of other things that influence student skills. Studies show that it may not be the teacher, but the quality of the students, and the quality of the school (Baker). This shows that student test scores are influenced by by outside forces such as family and the community that they live in. These are factors that, for the most part, are things that a student cannot control.