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Controversy of standardized testing
Controversy of standardized testing
Impact standardized tests have on education
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Standardized Testing
Every year thousands upon thousands of children, ages seven and upwards sit down to take their scheduled standardized tests. This generation has been classified as the most tested in history. 'Its progress through childhood and adolescence' has been 'punctuated by targets, key stages, attainment levels, and qualifications' ('Stalin in School' 8). Each year the government devises a new standard and then finds a way to test how each student measures up to this standard. They have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to chart the success of school reform is to follow the results of standardized testing. But rating education strictly by the numbers is the wrong way to measure a process as complex as learning, and teaching kids how to memorize facts and remember dates is an altogether different achievement from teaching them how to make sense out of new ideas and experiences.
This system of testing currently used is based on academic standards. These academic standards are clearly written expectations of what every child should know and be able to do at specific grade levels. They usually only test the core school subjects such as math, science, language arts, and social studies. For example, 'in Wisconsin, the standards were written for English/Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science at the 4th, 8th, and 12th grade levels' ('Standards and Assessments Q&A'). These standards are usually written by educators, and parents serving on special committees and sometimes by commercial test makers. However, as you will see these standards do not cover true learning.
True learning involves teaching the students to think logically and form their own conclusions based on facts and inferences, not memorization and regurgitation of facts. These facts would be useless to the students if they were not able to use logic to connect these facts and make educated decisions. Nevertheless, the core school subjects do not include this. According to Brady, ?School subjects are just convenient organizers of information. As all effective teachers know, the real challenge isn't to stuff kids' heads with secondhand information, but to teach them to think, to draw inferences, generate hypotheses, formulate generalizations, explore systemic relationships, make defensible value judgments, and so on.? Education is not about how well a student can me...
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...terns, evaluate situations, and make inferences and logical decisions based on facts and observations. And furthermore rating education and a student?s progress strictly through numbers is the wrong way to measure a process as complex and intricate as learning.
Works Cited
Brady, Marion. 'Not-yet-answered questions about standardized testing.' Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service 28 Jan. 2003: K.
Clarke, Kevin. 'Why students are feeling so testy.' U.S. Catholic July 2000: 27.
Gallagher, Tom. 'The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools.' The Progressive Aug. 2001: 44.
'How Standardized Testing Damages Education.' FairTest: The National Center for Fair and Open Testing.
Moon, Tonya, Catherine Brighton, Carolyn Callahan. ?State standardized testing programs: friend or foe of gifted education? (On Gifted Students in School).' Roeper Review Wntr 2003: 49.
Morse, Jodie. 'To Test and Test Not.' Time 6 Oct. 2000. 27 Mar.2003.
'Stalin in School.' New Statesman 17 June 2002: 8.
'Standards and Assessments Q&A.' Advocates for Education of Whitefish Bay.2002. 27
Mar.2003. < http://www.fairtest.org/arn/wislet.html>.
Michels, Patrick. "Testing the Limits: a Texas Mother’s Radical Revolt Against Standardized Tests." Texas Observer. N.p., 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. .
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
She explains how standardized tests, such as the one her students took, were designed with numerous interference techniques, included questions which were above-grade material, and were administered with inadequate time to answer the questions being presented. Stahlman goes on to express her frustration with a standardized test which was administered to her students by saying "I watched in horror as my precious students, who were gifted poets and writers, inquisitive scientists and mathematicians, lovers of books, remarkable artists, and caring learners, were forced to silently attempt to master a test that was designed to trip them up." (Stahlman 242) The author also states how these standardized tests seem to be high-stakes in nature due to schools being labeled and ranked according to their scores and teachers being rewarded due to their students achievement in these tests. This article serves as one of my stronger arguments for my case compared to my other sources, due to its exemplification of how the proliferation of such tests is alarming and how the standardized testing of students at such a young age is not appropriate due to their cognitive development. The article is also useful in the sense that is provides a valid and sound argument for the opposition of standardized testing. I will be implementing this source into my argumentative essay by providing examples from Stahlman's text on how bizarre standardized testing might seem when it comes to the assessment of students, especially at such a young age. It will also serve as a good source for proving how much of a bearing standardized tests hold on the assessment of not only students but teachers as
It is 1917. You are a young American man who has enlisted in the armed forces, but before you are shipped off to France, you have to take what is known as an Army Alpha Test. Your scores will be compared to more than a million others and the results will determine whether you are placed in an officer training program or simply thrust onto the battlefield. High stakes were placed on this test 93 years ago; high stakes are placed on tests modeled after them today. The standardized achievement tests commonly used in schools today evolved from the Army Alphas developed by the American Psychological Association. This is precisely the problem. Standardized tests are old and outdated, and the harm they cause to America’s education system by far out-weighs 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 in 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 problem associated with how students are chosen to join a gifted and talented program stems from the way that we define giftedness. Because there are countless ways in which any individual can define talent, the government created a federal task force in 1972 to study gifted education in order to standardize the way in which schools choose students for and implement their gifted and talented programs. The task force’s results are known as the Marland Report and include much information as a result of their research, including a decision that a public school’s gifted and talented programs should aim to serve between 3 and 5 percent o...
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. Rizga better proves her thesis through the use of solid argumentation. Rizga is more
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 ability for all children from varying walks of life to receive a well-rounded education in America has become nothing more than a myth. In excerpt “The Essentials of a Good Education”, Diane Ravitch argues the government’s fanatical obsession with data based on test scores has ruined the education system across the country (107). In their eyes, students have faded from their eyes as individual hopefully, creative and full of spirit, and have become statistics on a data sheet, percentages on a pie chart, and numbers calculated to show the intelligence they have from filling out bubbles in a booklet. In order for schools to be able to provide a liberal education, they need the proper funding, which comes from the testing.
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
Many people agree that standardized tests are a reasonable evaluation of a student’s capability. Standardized tests originated in the mid-1800s, in the American education system. W. James Popham defines standardized testing by “any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner” (“Is the Use of…,” 2013). After the No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) came about in the early 2000s, the use of standardized testing became popular. NCLB required yearly testing for specific grades and subjects. If schools did not demonstrate adequate improvement, they were either closed or run by the state. This was done so the state and the tax payers of the schools knew that students were learning and knowing the material. Tax payers especially wanted to make sure their money was going to good use (“Is the Use of…,” 2013). High scores on standardized tests can result in funding for the school, along with bonuses to the facility and staff of the school.
Kohn, Alfie. The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann 2000.
Solley, B. A. (2012). On Standardized Testing: An ACEI Position Paper. Childhood Education, 84(1), 31-37. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2007.10522967
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.
One of the reasons why standardized tests are used is for measuring a child’s scholastic performance. But how accurately do they do this? A standardized test is made up of consistent questions and procedures for scoring and administration. They are always made according to identical rules so the procedures are the same for everybody who takes the tests. They come in many forms: on paper, on computer, questionnaires, etc. These tests are very contentious because many people have different opinions about them. Some critics feel that the tests help parents and teachers act as guides to assist students on expanding their knowledge in a particular subject. They are also needed to enter Ivy- League schools which further explains why international schools and schools in the United States take them. However, most do argue that these tests do not take into consideration a child’s traits and what the child can give. The tests judge students based on their performance on that day, not on their growth as educational participants, and places many in stressful situations due to the amount of studying needed to prepare for the tests. Standardized tests give scores that predict how “smart” a person is, although intelligence comes in many forms. To a large extent, standardized testing is not an effective way of measuring a child’s intellectual potential because it focuses mainly on the performance instead of the child’s growth and it doesn’t take into account the child’s personality and what they have to give. On the other hand, they can be necessary because they act as guides to help parents and teachers aid children on what they don’t have knowledge on in a specific subject.
Shaunessy, E. (2003). State policies regarding gifted education. Gifted Child Today Magazine, 26. Retrieved March 7, 2004, from http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=10445176&db=f5h