Nearly thirty percent of students in this year’s graduating class will not earn their high school diploma (Swanson). In the United States the rate of college graduation is only thirty eight percent, while in 2010, Canada’s college graduation rate was near sixty percent (Lee). In an effort to help with the problem of achievement in America, President Bush, in 2002, signed the No Child Left Behind Act. The Act called for 100 percent of students to be proficient in both reading and math in state given tests by the year 2014. Some criticized that the act permitted states to define what proficient is. Others criticized the punishments for not meeting the targets that were set, which included closure or privatization of schools, losing funds, or being labeled as failing (Ravitch web). Because of those factors, heavy emphases on standardized tests were put in place in schools across the United States. The No Child Left Behind Act’s use of standardized testing negatively affects schools by pressuring schools to change curriculum, cheat to attain better scores, and by making children ill-prepared for higher education.
Schools changing curriculum to cater to the testing requirements is one way the No Child Left Behind Act negatively affects schools. This article describes consequences of the heavy emphasis on standardized tests made by the No Child Left Behind Act, “The Overall lackluster performance is certain to revive the debate on whether history and other subjects, such as science and art, are being pushed out of the curriculum because of the focus on math and reading demanded under the No Child Left Behind federal educational law” (Banchero web).
Many of the courses that are being pushed out are courses that a...
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Works Cited
Banchero, Stephanie. “States Fail to Raise Bar in Reading, Math Tests.” Wall Street Journal 11 August 2011: A2. Print.
---. “SAT Reading, Writing Scores Hit Low.” Wall Street Journal 15 September 2011: A2. Print.
---. “Students Stumble Again on the Basics of History.” Wall Street Journal 15 July 2011: A3. Print.
Lee, Micheal. “US College Graduations Rate Lags, Speaker Says.” The Chronicle: Web. 21 September 2011.
Ravitch, Diane. “Obama’s War on Schools.” Newsweek 4 April 2011: Vol. 157, No. 14. Print
---. “Why I Changed My Mind About School Reform.” Wall Street Journal 9 March 2010: A.21. Print.
Sarrio, Jaime. “Atlanta’s Testing Scandal Adds Fuel to U.S. Debate.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution 10 July 2011: A1. Print.
Swanson, Christopher. “U.S. Graduation Rate Continues Decline.” Education Week: Web. 2 June 2010.
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
In Standardized Testing and Its Victims, an article written for Education Week, Alfie Kohn states: 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
damaged public education through the application of standardized testing, which created a system focused on federal funding, placing blame on teachers, and cheating hardworking students. Perrin argues that the government’s influence on public education with the No Child Left Behind law is ruining public schools. This law was created with the intention of increasing the nation’s world standings in academics through the use of standardized testing, which students must pass with at least a proficient
something to worry about. Students need to worry about standardized tests to be able to get into a good college and sometimes even graduate. Stares all over the country require students to take exams that show their intellectual abilities, but it falls short in doing so. School districts have shaped and planned their curriculum around standardized testing. Specific classes are made to prepare students, but in recent years standardized testing has been found to be detrimental towards students educationally
Tiller 3/8/14 Standardized Testing and Accountability Put yourself in a high school students shoes. Your main focal points are to do well in school, get good grades, learn new things, make memories, and to have fun. Though many schools place a fun and constructive learning environment over a stressful test based environment, some do not. Schools have made standardized testing their main focus instead of teaching students other equally important skills. ( ProCon. "Standardized Tests - ProCon
throughout ones educational career, students are required to take standardized tests to show their progress and if they meet certain requirements they could qualify them for higher educational opportunities. Some common standardized test include: Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), American College Testing (ACT), Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), and Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL). Standardized tests are designed so that each person taking the test has the
Secretary of Education stated, “...it was possible that 82% of US schools could be failing at the end of 2012.”,? What is the root of these terrible devastations from our US education?, it is standardized testing. The problem arising in US is that the school systems are requiring students to complete many standardized tests in order to be measured on the basis of improvement in education and/or to be accessed by different institutions/ universities for acceptance into the programs available. But that is
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
When was the last time you took a standardized test? No matter how long ago or recent, you can remember the feeling of anxiety the night before the big test and all that day. The feeling of not wanting to go take it, but wanting to get it over with and move on. You are sitting at the desk with a number two pencil waiting for the prompter to say, “You may begin,” in a room that is either too hot or too cold. After you finish the test, you are not done, though: there is still the stress of waiting
claiming the adverse effects result from the use of standardized testing as the sole measurement of student success, yet it continues to be a defining factor for students across America. These test results are able to make or break the students, and, according to several professionals, it is in fact breaking them. Similarly, the stress put on standardized test scores has led to negative results within the classroom. The results of standardized tests within a district has begun to play a role in
Yes, the days of naps and snack time were quite delightful, so long as it wasn’t the season of standardized testing. Standardized testing has been enforced largely by the No Child Left Behind Foundation, something
Introduction: Standardized tests have been an influential part of America’s educational system for centuries. Their use has risen tremendously after 2002's No Child Left Behind Act required annual testing in all 50 states. Standardized tests vary from state to state in all grade levels, but all states use these tests to measure a students’ academic prowess in school. Some people in the society argue that standardized testing is fair and an adequate way to measure a student’s ability, as well as
Has Standardized Testing Become Just Another Political Experiment? Standardized testing includes the most critical exams for the futures of students and the worth of educators. For teachers and high school students this includes the SAT, the ACT, and numerous EOC evaluations and more. Students will spend unfathomable amounts of time studying for all of these exams and teachers will stress over the fear that they are being judged based on how well their classes perform on the exams. It is unfair
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
talk about testing. Is the use of standardized tests improving education in America? According to the Huffington Post, the United States’ students went from being ranked 18th in the world in math in 2000 to 27th in 2012. Failures in the education system have been blamed on rising poverty levels, teacher quality, and on the widespread use of standardized tests. People believe that America’s academic performance is mostly related to standardize testing. Pros & Cons Pros: Standardized tests are reliable