The Education System in the United States

The Education System in the United States

Diane Ravitch, Senior Research Scholar at New York University, has written several books and hundreds of articles pertaining to the education system in the United States. In one of her articles printed by Education Week, she says that "most fourth-graders who live in U.S. cities can't read and understand a simple children's book, and most eighth-graders can't use arithmetic to solve a practical problem." This is a reason behind testing schools and its students on what they have learned. Those that support standardized testing say that it is a useful way to rate a school and its students with other schools internationally. The opposing side of the issue exclaims that there is too much time spent on testing.

There are arguments that standardized testing is not an accurate way to judge a school and its ability to teach students. Julian Barnes from the New York Times notes education experts have been complaining that "measuring second graders with standardized tests was unreliable." Educators simply say that there is "too much testing and at too young an age." In fact, second graders in New York take twelve to thirteen tests throughout the course of the academic school year. Some teachers and parents feel that all this test time could have been put to better use. But it is not wasted time: it does serve a purpose. Dr. Cookson, a professor at the Teachers College at Columbia University, speaks about this issue in an article from the New York Times called "Q & A: Stress Test". He explains that "What may not be great about this is that you cannot funnel an education through a number." But he also makes the point that testing does give feedback on the academic climate of a partic...

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Bibliography:

Works Cited

Barnes, Julian E. "Reading Test for 2d Grade is Canceled After Protests." New York Times on

the Web. http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/ Mar. 13, 1999. Apr. 29, 1999

Nakamura, David. "State Testing Programs Face Special Challenges." Washington Post.

http://search.washingtonpost.com/up-srv/Wplate/1999-04/25/2741-0425599-idx.html

25 Apr. 1999. 29 Apr. 1999

"Q & A: Stress Test." New York Times on the Web. 3 Jan. 1999. 27 Apr. 1999

Ravitch, Diane. "Our School Problem and Its Solution." City Journal.

http://www.edexcellence.net/library/problem . Winter Issue 1999. 6 May. 1999

Steinberg, Jaques. "Testing Whether City's Children Make the Grade As Readers." New York

Times on the Web. http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/ . 18 Apr., 1999. 29 Apr. 1999