Standardized tests are examinations administered to the children of the United States. Some states have exit exams, meaning a student must pass the test to continue or finish their education. Here in Virginia, students are tested from 3rd grade to 8th grade on the Standards of Learning tests also known as the Virginia SOL’s. Students from Kindergarten on up will take the Cognitive Ability Test or Cog AT and Benchmark tests throughout the year. High school students have their choice of taking the SAT’s or ACT’s or if they would like to join the military they will be given the ASVAB. Unfortunately, these tests are not completely to blame for poor results. The education standards are different in each case; some areas like in South Carolina depend on federal aid and grants to function. Their practice is the lower the grade of the results of the test the more money they will receive. Whereas in Virginia, the lower the score with no improvement the less funding they will receive and if there is no improvement within five years the entire school staff is replaced. From an early age, society has encouraged the practice of examinations from the entry to school to work employment. The real question that needs to be asked is are these tests benefiting the youth in the United States or are they just encouraging them to memorize large amounts of information. In turn, how much are they actually learning and can we as educators, parents and concerned citizens guarantee these children are receiving the best education possible. Testing is necessary but we are over testing our children and slowly removing all of the creativity from them and the teachers. Turning the youth of today into memorizing machines and not comprehending the material that th...
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...e utilized in the college atmosphere and I personally would want my children prepared for the task ahead of time.
Works Cited
Bryfonski, Dedria. At Issue: Standardized Testing. New York: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Print.
Chandler, Michael “Virginia Students Will Take Fewer Standards of Learning Test Next Year” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2014. Web. 7 Apr 2014.
Hudson, David, Jr. Point Counterpoint: Education Standards. New York: Chelsea House Publisher, 2007. Print.
Kozol, Jonathan. Letters to a Young Teacher. New York: Crown Publishers, 2007. Print.
Phelps, Richard P. Kill the Messenger: The war on Standardized Testing. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2003. Print.
Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. New York: Basic Books, 2010. Print.
In the text, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, author Diane Ravitch explores her ideological shift on school reform and the empirical evidence that caused this shift. Once a proponent and contributor of testing, accountability, choice, and market reforms, Ravitch’s support began to diminish as she realized that these current reforms were not viable options. She came to realize that the new school reforms focused entirely on structural and managerial adjustments and that no focus was given to actual learning.
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
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.
Ruthven, R. (2007, November 7). Is Standardized Testing Hurting Education? Associated Content. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from www.associatedcontent.com/article/438846/is_standardized_testing_hurting_education.html
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
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.
Since the release of the report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in December of 2010 many in the government and community are searching for ways to reform the American education system to give American students the greatest opportunity to succeed. According to the report, American students are not testing as high as other nations in the world (Duncan, 2010). There are many contributing elements that have brought America to her knees in the education system, however, the obsession with standardized testing is found to be one of the most influential downfalls.
Standardized tests, such as the SAT and the SOL, have been implemented for many years now for individuals in grade school to take. The SOL’s, or Standards of Learning tests, are Virginia’s version of standardized tests that students are required to take in order to pass a class, evaluating their knowledge on a specific subject. SOL’s are mandatory for students to take as soon as they reach third grade. Additionally, the SAT is a test taken in the final years of high school that colleges look at when comparing students for post-secondary school. People concerned with student’s education can come to the common consensus that education is important and there should be some way to compare a student’s achievements to one another. However, the process
One time I heard a teacher at my old high school tell a new teacher that their job is to teach to the test and nothing else. I did not really know what she meant, but I knew something about what she said sounded very wrong. I thought why are they just teaching us how to pass the test instead of just teaching us what we need to know? Later I found out that whether or not I graduate depends on passing the test. The idea of standardized testing to say whether or not students graduate is a bad one. Not just bad for schools, principals, and teachers, but it can mean the end of a student’s future before it begins. That means not only does schools suffer, but everyone in our communities, states, and country suffers. It used to be that students had to take standardized tests every year. The results of these tests said what school districts would get more money or less money for the next school year. And it would also tell schools and teachers if some students needed to be put into higher level programs such as gifted and talented or advanced placement courses or if they were having problems and should be put in special education.
Peterson, B. & Neill, M. (2014). Alternatives to standardized testing. Rethinking Schools. Retrieved from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/restrict.a sp?path=archive/13_03/assess.shtml
There are a large majority of people that agree with standardized testing and believe that they are a useful tool when gauging a person’s academic standing. These people are working to keep testing alive in schools and encourage the Department of Education to maintain these tests. Herbert J. Walberg wrote an article that stated “Research and experience show that standardized tests are generally good at measuring students’ knowledge, skills, and understandings because they are objective, fair, efficient, and comprehensive.” (2011) According to that statement the author thinks that testing is great because it takes the bias out when it comes to grading.
Sacks, P. Standardized Minds: The High Price of America’s Testing Culture and What we Can do to Change it. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books, Feb. 2000: Available online: http://www.fairtest.org.k12/psacks.html
Sacks, Peter. "The Toll Standardized Tests Take." National Education Association. 2000. Web. 2 July 2015.
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.
Goodman, Paul. “A Proposal to Abolish Testing.” Forming a Critical Perspective, Ed, Ann Spurlock. 1st. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2010. 191-193. Print.