School Districts in Washington State should remove the requirements of standardized testing. The tests that are taken are not a valid way of showing a student’s complete abilities that are showcased in class. The way that the tests are all the same and some students have only learned some of the materials because of the classes that chose to take in high school don’t teach everything that is on the test. Taking these tests are putting a toll on high school students and causing them stress and anxiety.
Standardized testing does not let students show how capable they truly are. School Districts in Washington State should remove the testing so that students are able to express their work ethics in a better way than a single test score. The SAT and ACT tests are all tests that every student will most likely take, the test is the same for everyone. The test is completely multiple choice questions, except for the writing part of the test. By the test having multiple choice questions, it is not a valid way of showing off a student’s knowledge. It is easier to guess on an answer or look off someone else’s test when you only have 4 answers to choose from. By letting students express themselves in a more efficient way the School Districts in Washington State would have more successful students. Having the student write out how they got a math answer or explain their reasoning behind what they think about the passage is a stronger answer than picking A,B, C or D on a test sheet. When they explain why they got the answer they did, it lets them show how their brain works and what kind of student they are. The school district should not continue with standardized testing because it does not validly express how a student can perform and what...
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...a 4 hour test on a Saturday morning can completely capture what you have learned and how you learned it. It is not a fair way for students to showcase themselves. School Districts in Washington State would continue to affect students in a negative way by keeping standardized testing as a requirement.
Students need a way for them to be seen as an individual instead of a test score. A high school transcript is a better way for a student to be revealed than a test score. Once the School Districts in Washington State realizes that the standardized tests that they give out really hurts the student rather than helps then students may start to excel more in school.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/stress-teens-psychological/5266739/
Works Cited
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/stress-teens-psychological/5266739/
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.
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.
Standardized testing is not a new concept; it has been in use since the mid to late 1990’s. However the “high stakes” focus on standardized testing is. The practices that accompany standardized testing have long been in debate. Those in favor of standardized testing will argue that the testing creates a system that increases grades and accountability among teachers, students and school districts across the country. On the other hand those that oppose standardized testing will argue the ill effects that standardized testing can have on students, teachers, and schools. There are numerous ways in which standardized testing has gravely impacted education, some of which are high stress levels of students and teachers, the hindrance on educational instruction, high monetary costs of testing as well as inadvertent discrimination and bias. Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota stated “Far from improving education, high-stakes testing marks a major retreat from fairness, from accuracy, from quality and from equity.”
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 the best way to measure how well a teacher teaches or how much a student has learned. Schools throughout the United States put their main focus on standardized tests; these examinations put too much pressure on the teachers and students and cause traumatizing events. Standardized testing puts strain on teachers and students causing unhealthy occurrences, Common Core is thrown at teachers with no teaching on how to teach the new way which dampers testing scores for all students, and the American College Test determines whether a child gets into college or not based on what they have learned during high school. Standardized tests are disagreeable; tests should not determine ranking of people.
Students spend the majority of their time preparing for standardized tests, instead of spending their time learning. In addition, standardized tests give students anxiety, and could lead them to want to drop out of high school due to all of the stress. I believe that standardized tests should not carry so much weight in the education system. They should serve as checks of the educational system rather than as a determinant of the future of
It is difficult for certain population groups to do well on them and they reward “in the box” type thinking. However, they are not without their purposes in the admissions process. It can be complicated to compare grades in classes and GPA’s of students in different high schools because each course’s difficultly level varies. As the editorial board of the Washington Post argued, “No college can possibly know what an A-minus or a B-plus means in each of the thousand high schools their applicants attend” (“Getting Rid of SAT and ACT Testing Is a Mistake”). Basically, it is impossible to compare a student from California that gets an A in Geometry to a student from Virginia that gets a B in Geometry. Curriculum is different, teachers grade differently, and high schools have ways of inflating grades for their own benefit. This is where the importance of standardization comes in with standardized tests. Test like the SAT and the ACT, while not perfect, give admissions offices a baseline evaluator to compare students on. Without standardized test, students cannot be analyzed on equal footing. The danger in standardized tests is realized when schools assign too much value to a single score. It is vital that tests scores are used as what they are: a measure of student intelligence, but also just a number. Standardized tests are necessary in the college admissions process but cannot be the sole reason for acceptance or denial. Even the College Board, administer of the SAT, argues that test scores are best used when viewed in union with grades and extracurricular activities (Juric). If admissions offices are informed about the restrictions and imperfections associated with the SAT and ACT, especially the biases that appear against students from low income families, then test scores can be used
According to Fyona Rose, “Not only do these tests belittle students' and teachers' hard work, they also leave them with negative feelings toward school and drain their love of learning” (Rose, 2015). This means that standardized testing can ruin the enjoyment of learning for both students and teachers. The reason standardized testing still happens is because it has become a standard for schools each year. But if the standard is bad something should be changed. Many who do not like standardized testing to do not believe that testing should be done away with, but rather be changed to accommodate the growing needs of society as a
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...
I believe standardized tests are the best thing the state of Texas ever did. This allows the kids that cannot do well on the test understand that maybe college is not for them. It allows for the states resources to be used for the kids that can do well on the test. I mean after all if it was not an accurate way for intelligence to be measured then why would the state force us to do it. Could it be away to hold back the kids that some people believe not worthy of time and money from the state. And these kids that are very smart but do not test well could it cause them undo mental stress. Of course it does. The standardized that are given though out the State of Texas should be abolished because the only thing that it is good for is stressing
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.
Imagine learning all the lessons you needed to learn during the school year. Than by the end of the year that Standardized Test comes around and everyone gets nervous. When you thoroughly think the test through you think it will be easy because you learned everything that you needed to know for that school year. But when the test comes out and you take it you know basically a majority of the answers but then there's about 20 questions about topics you haven't learned and you're forced to know them at that point. This kind of situation is normal for all students. If you ask a student if they like taking standardized testing 9/10 would say they don't like it. It is a serious problem with having to take these state tests, with some of the questions based around something you have never heard of or a topic you've never heard of. Schools should ban standardized testing. Standardized testing should be banned in schools because their is way more students failing the tests compared to maybe one percent of students
It is apparent that standardized testing is a method that is just not working. It is unfair to low income homes, it is pressuring students and teachers, as well as forgetting about the years of hard work students have put
Standardized tests should be banned, and we should replace it with in-class scores and grades. Students will be taking these tests, and teachers may not know about other factors, they might just be focused on the scores. What this means is students may have certain restraints, such as test anxiety, their home life, and just their ability to test well. This supports my point by showing that some students will have issues taking these tests, giving them a reason to be banned. Standardized testing should be banned because using
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.