The last two major educational reforms, President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 and President Obama’s Race to the Top grant program in 2009, majorly changed the educational experience by introducing and intensely focusing on standardized testing as a way to measure students’ ability and progress. While the educational reforms were initially well received, resistance to standardized testing has grown. Many who are opposed think standardized testing is further damaging our education system as the ability to test well has become more important than gaining actual knowledge and genuine learning. Those opposed also argue that standardized testing does not accurately measure students’ abilities. Both students and teachers are being negatively …show more content…
Some reports say teachers use, “30 percent of their work time on testing-related tasks, including preparing students, proctoring, and reviewing the results of standardized tests,” (PBS Newshour). Students’ education is suffering because of this. Students are not learning actual information. They are learning how to test. In an article on the National Educational Association 's website explains how this hurts education. “If you focus on teaching kids to correctly answer problems that use a particular question format and only cover a narrow range of skills, students will do better and better—that is, until someone asks them questions in a different way, or measures a different set of skills from the larger curriculum.” As standardized test only focus on reading and math skills, and teachers must focus on developing those skills, other subjects are given less focus. Some might suggest that teachers should not being spending so much time on teaching how to test. However, if teachers do not focus on the skills that are being assessed, and students do not show progress, schools will lose funding. As students continue to be over-tested, students have shown the physical effects of standardized testing. US News Health reports that, “Multiple cases of children being moved to tears or vomiting are widely shared by educators,” …show more content…
According to the New York Times, “Researchers compared the results of state tests and the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2005 and 2007, identifying a score on the national assessment that was equivalent to each state’s definition of proficiency. The study found wide variation among states, with standards highest in Massachusetts and South Carolina. Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee had standards that were among the lowest.” These results prove that these standardized tests do not accurately measure students. Some students do not need to perform as well as others depending on the state they live in. Why would educators set low standards? Wouldn’t they want students to strive for success? While educators do want their students to learn and succeed, they also were afraid that they would loss of their funding if the standards were set too high.
The Obama administration’s solution to this problem was to design the Common Core standards and encourage states to adopt these standards. Forty-six states have adopted the Common Core. These standards are more nationalized, and since the Common Core standards are a part of the Race to the Top, schools cannot lose funding, only gain it. However, there is a concern that these new standards are too high. For example, one of the standards focuses
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.
Another major criticism of the “No Child Left Behind” deals with the implications of using a standardized test as means of assessing achievement.
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.
Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the sentiments of the authors and their insight into standardized examination. The articles provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that standardized tests are not effective at measuring a teacher’s competency because they do not take into account the school environment and its effect on the students.
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.
Many times after taking a standardized test, neither the teacher or student are able to see the test to determine what questions the examinee got correct or incorrect. Because of this, teachers and students do not know what areas need more more practice. Each year money is wasted on standardized tests that could be put towards more useful things to help excell a student in their education. Andrew Ujifusa is a reporter for Education Week. He covers education policy at the federal and state levels and writes for the Politics K-12 blog. He states, “The report...calculates that the test spending by 44 states and the District of Columbia amounted to $65 per student on average in grades 3-9 based on the most recent test-cost data the researchers could gather.” (Ujifusa pg.1). Each year schools around America are wasting money on standardized tests for no reason. The money spent on standardized testing should be used for more pressing education matters, not wasted away on a single test for each student. Standardized tests cost schools about a quarter of 1 percent the total k-12 spending, or $1.7 billion annually. (Ujifusa pg.1). Schools are spending an unnecessary amount of money on standardized tests, often times these tests can be scored inaccurately. There is no point in wasting money on standardized
In 2002, President George W. Bush passed the “No Child Left Behind Act” which tied in schools’ public funding to standardized tests and enforced the tests in elementary and high schools every year by state education departments. This law also began to put more emphasize on standardized tests which has diminished our level of education and the law “made standardized test scores the primary measure of school quality” (Diane Ravitch 28). Bush hoped this law motivated more students to do well on these exams and teachers to help them prepare better, but it ended up hurting many schools in the process. These exams like the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) should not play such a prominent role in schooling and the government should not make tests the main focal point.
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 system.
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
In practice, when done by Washington politicians who know nothing about education, these standards are awful. Common Core boasts terrible standards and forces itself on districts that are failing, which is not really the worst thing since those districts usually cannot get any worse. Districts that are good and preforming above national levels are also subject to the same standards. Common Core is not for everyone. Medicine is not for everyone. At this point, educators and the people that care about students instead of mere test scores should be the ones setting and regulating standards. Teachers that care will get those test scores. Schools that do not meet the standard should be regulated and evaluated, but not the healthy schools that preform above and beyond the national standard. It would be helpful to diagnose the issue instead of pretending that the problem is solved when it is not. The Common Core standards creates more problems than it can even begin to solve and fails to diagnose any real issue. The future is bright for students and that future needs to be protected from Washington politicians at all costs. As a teacher, I will see to it that I not only meet standards, but overcome them and outshine them. Then, perhaps Common Core will leave the district that I teach in alone and reconsider the atrocity that Common Core
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Standardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some people may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay.
Standardized testing is not an effective way to test the skills and abilities of today’s students. Standardized tests do not reveal what a student actually understands and learns, but instead only prove how well a student can do on a generic test. Schools have an obligation to prepare students for life, and with the power standardized tests have today, students are being cheated out of a proper, valuable education and forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure to succeed are being devoted to standardized tests. Standardized testing, as it is being used presently, is a flawed way of testing the skills of today’s students.
Standardized testing shows that it takes more than just giving students test to see who has the higher grade. Students must be allowed to grow and take an interest in education by guiding them and not forcing them to have higher test grades. Taking standardized testing is like how Stephanie Schneider puts it, its “like checking if a plant was growing by ripping it out and checking” (Schneider, and Christison 30-32). The United States used to be a country of originality, but now they have swapped it out to have a competition on who can have a higher score.
“If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that.” This quote by Michelle Obama illustrates the idea that standardized testing should not have such a large influence on education in America. However, a majority of people are under the impression that standardized tests are an accurate method to measure a person's intellectual ability. I believe that standardized tests have developed into a very critical part of the American education system that is hindering the growth of students and teachers instead of providing a tool that can accurately measure knowledge.