High Stakes Testing Persuasive Essay
High- Stake tests, depending on how they are made, can either a positive and negative effect on a child’s education. They are tests that make important decision about students, teachers, schools, and districts and their purpose is accountability. There has been debates on if the high- stakes tests in America are having a negative effect on their children. These tests have been around for a long time and have served as a great way to measure students' knowledge and growth as a whole. Based on some studies, it is clear that the high- stake test should be revised and changed to better evaluate students and teachers' performance. To begin with, high- stakes tests do their part in evaluating students growth and knowledge and keeping track of student’s progress over the years. It does this by allowing a child to take the same type of test yearly and this makes it easy to see how or if the student is improving, going backward, or staying the same (Grebs). Since all the test is the same in every school, they serve as an accurate way of comparing the growth of students in groups (Grebs). For example, they might want to see how all the students are doing in a
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certain district or in a particular school and they can just take all the test scores from each school and compare them. Secondly, standardized test can serve as a tool of guidance for teachers, and it can help them plan what to teach and when to teach it by calculating the students weak points and strong areas (Grebs).
It also gives the parents of the children a good idea of where their children are at and how much progress they are making compared to children across the nation (Grebs). This allows people to compare the progress of small local areas to the nation which will allow them to measure the achievement gap, if any, and bridges that gap. Measuring the achievement gap is something standardized tests are good because it allows for educators to compare large groups of students without applying demographics such as race, status, and gender (Miller). All these things make the test seem perfect, but it is not and it has its
flaws. Following this further, according to Howard M. Miller, chair of the Department of Secondary Education at Mercy College School of Education, standardized test have human elements; it is not completely reliable. This means that any test created by humans will have flaws and there is no standardized test that can standardize the performance of students because it is always varying (Miller). The test supplies the ability to be book smart but it does not ensure common sense or moral accountability (Delgado). Standardize tests have a few flaws that need to be addressed and fixed.
For instance, standardize tests are supposed to be good at measuring the achievement gap, but what is their meaning for “achievement”(Miller). Test makers and test evaluators are very unclear with what they mean when they use achievement. Is it scoring high on their standardized test or is it giving the students an education that will prepare them for their futures and the workforce and making sure that they retain the information being taught? Standardized testing has not given their true meaning of achievement, but a brief definition of “‘the score on a standardized achievement test’” (Miller). This might seem as a silly definition, but it has a major effect in narrowing the curriculum (Miller).
Now, the stakes have increased in a drastic way because the scores on these tests can determine what classes, students can get in and if they even graduate, or if they are ready to graduate (Miller). It does not only just affect the students, but the teachers as well because they are using the test scores to evaluate teachers and the possibility of consequences for failing the AYP goals (Miller). The test is gaining a lot of power and it is putting pressure on both the students and the teachers. As a result, some teacher is starting to teach to the test and are only worried about making sure that their children pass the test, and this is causing teachers to loss their enjoyment in teaching and care less about the children (Grebs). This is evident in some school systems where they are taking away recess in order to have more time in the classes, and this is causing students and teachers to build up stress, which is bad for their health, and have negative feelings toward school (Grebs).
For example, there was a study done by Laura-Lee Kearns, a college Professor from the University of Toronto, to examine the impact of a large- scale standardized test that was a requirement for graduation. The test was the OSSLT, Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, which is a standardized test given to high school students in Ontario who want to graduate high school. It is a pretty serious test for them if they want to go to college. Kearns chose to focus on the student who failed the test, and these children were labeled as “at risk” because they were at risk of not graduating and leaving school. In Kearns’ study, she was going to contrast the goals of the policies and the feelings of the students. Kearns also talks about the factors that contribute to being at risk like race, gender, class, ethnicity, community circumstances, and other things.
In Kearns’ study, the children were blamed for their failure and for themselves being labeled as at risk even if they were already labeled as at risk by one of these unchangeable factors like race. This made the students feel even worse about their failure. The tester made it seem as if the students did not care about the consequences of failing the test and about their future. According to Kearns’ interviews, the student knew about how the test could up affect their future and it made them doubt their abilities. When the student found out they failed the test they were not just shocked, but they felt stress, humiliation, stupidity, and like they were less than themselves. When Kearns interviewed them, most of them said they felt scared and doubt before taking the test and it showed up on their scores.
Repeatedly, students said self- doubt in their abilities is what lead them to failure (Kearns). Many of the students felt that they did not belong in a course that they once enjoyed: they doubt if they were even strong in those areas anymore, and this continued to affect them in their classes and school work (Kearns). If the test has this much power and this big of an effect on students' lives, then it needs revisions and checks and balances. These interviews disprove the misconception that these students who were “at risk” did not care about school because all of them felt shame for their failure and wanted to pass to have a better future (Kearns).
Now, that the result of failure and how overpowered these standardized tests are clear; there are people and organizations looking for alternatives and solutions. Some examples of these people and organizations are teachers and parents in Texas and the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). EQAO was made to implement the OSSLT and allows students to take the test over (Kearns). Teachers from all around are thinking of alternatives that will ensure equity and better assess students' skills. For instance, using assessments instead of a standardized summative assessment because a summative assessment can only take a screenshot of the students while a series of assessment can test various attributes of a student like oral skills and writing skills (Kearns).
In addition, there are other alternatives and solutions that allow highly trained educator grade the tests and using performance- based test, like other countries, that consist of essays, projects, and activities (Scheaffer). Because countries using these styles are scoring higher than us, we are one of the only economically advanced nations using multiple choice- based test. The reason America uses multiple-choice test is because they are used as safeguards to ensure that race, gender, and all those other things do not affect the evaluation (Scheaffer).
Thus, there are forces leading people to want change. One of them is parents and educators, they see how this test driven schooling is destroying the educational purpose of school and how these companies who make these tests and books are do not have the child's interest in mind, but they are only trying to get the money from selling test materials (Scheaffer). This can be seen in the Texas Revolution where teachers, parents, church leaders, and organizations like the National center of fair and open testing are pushing to reduce test mandates and bring change (Scheaffer). Experiments like Kearns are causing organizations like the EQAO and how the Future of Educational Assessment commission members believe that these standardized tests that push accountability are overshadowing their purpose and they are taking action (Lee).
As a final point, the test is a great thing and it has done a lot measuring students progress, but it is not as beneficial as it was supposed to be. It is one sided and it covers the student body as a whole rejecting the individual skills of students. It also has too much power and needs some restrictions and revision, so it can fulfill its true purpose.
certain district or in a particular school and they can just take all the test scores from each school and compare them. Secondly, standardized test can serve as a tool of guidance for teachers, and it can help them plan what to teach and when to teach it by calculating the students weak points and strong areas (Grebs).
It also gives the parents of the children a good idea of where their children are at and how much progress they are making compared to children across the nation (Grebs). This allows people to compare the progress of small local areas to the nation which will allow them to measure the achievement gap, if any, and bridges that gap. Measuring the achievement gap is something standardized tests are good because it allows for educators to compare large groups of students without applying demographics such as race, status, and gender (Miller). All these things make the test seem perfect, but it is not and it has its
flaws. Following this further, according to Howard M. Miller, chair of the Department of Secondary Education at Mercy College School of Education, standardized test have human elements; it is not completely reliable. This means that any test created by humans will have flaws and there is no standardized test that can standardize the performance of students because it is always varying (Miller). The test supplies the ability to be book smart but it does not ensure common sense or moral accountability (Delgado). Standardize tests have a few flaws that need to be addressed and fixed.
For instance, standardize tests are supposed to be good at measuring the achievement gap, but what is their meaning for “achievement”(Miller). Test makers and test evaluators are very unclear with what they mean when they use achievement. Is it scoring high on their standardized test or is it giving the students an education that will prepare them for their futures and the workforce and making sure that they retain the information being taught? Standardized testing has not given their true meaning of achievement, but a brief definition of “‘the score on a standardized achievement test’” (Miller). This might seem as a silly definition, but it has a major effect in narrowing the curriculum (Miller).
Now, the stakes have increased in a drastic way because the scores on these tests can determine what classes, students can get in and if they even graduate, or if they are ready to graduate (Miller). It does not only just affect the students, but the teachers as well because they are using the test scores to evaluate teachers and the possibility of consequences for failing the AYP goals (Miller). The test is gaining a lot of power and it is putting pressure on both the students and the teachers. As a result, some teacher is starting to teach to the test and are only worried about making sure that their children pass the test, and this is causing teachers to loss their enjoyment in teaching and care less about the children (Grebs). This is evident in some school systems where they are taking away recess in order to have more time in the classes, and this is causing students and teachers to build up stress, which is bad for their health, and have negative feelings toward school (Grebs).
For example, there was a study done by Laura-Lee Kearns, a college Professor from the University of Toronto, to examine the impact of a large- scale standardized test that was a requirement for graduation. The test was the OSSLT, Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, which is a standardized test given to high school students in Ontario who want to graduate high school. It is a pretty serious test for them if they want to go to college. Kearns chose to focus on the student who failed the test, and these children were labeled as “at risk” because they were at risk of not graduating and leaving school. In Kearns’ study, she was going to contrast the goals of the policies and the feelings of the students. Kearns also talks about the factors that contribute to being at risk like race, gender, class, ethnicity, community circumstances, and other things.
In Kearns’ study, the children were blamed for their failure and for themselves being labeled as at risk even if they were already labeled as at risk by one of these unchangeable factors like race. This made the students feel even worse about their failure. The tester made it seem as if the students did not care about the consequences of failing the test and about their future. According to Kearns’ interviews, the student knew about how the test could up affect their future and it made them doubt their abilities. When the student found out they failed the test they were not just shocked, but they felt stress, humiliation, stupidity, and like they were less than themselves. When Kearns interviewed them, most of them said they felt scared and doubt before taking the test and it showed up on their scores.
Repeatedly, students said self- doubt in their abilities is what lead them to failure (Kearns). Many of the students felt that they did not belong in a course that they once enjoyed: they doubt if they were even strong in those areas anymore, and this continued to affect them in their classes and school work (Kearns). If the test has this much power and this big of an effect on students' lives, then it needs revisions and checks and balances. These interviews disprove the misconception that these students who were “at risk” did not care about school because all of them felt shame for their failure and wanted to pass to have a better future (Kearns).
Now, that the result of failure and how overpowered these standardized tests are clear; there are people and organizations looking for alternatives and solutions. Some examples of these people and organizations are teachers and parents in Texas and the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). EQAO was made to implement the OSSLT and allows students to take the test over (Kearns). Teachers from all around are thinking of alternatives that will ensure equity and better assess students' skills. For instance, using assessments instead of a standardized summative assessment because a summative assessment can only take a screenshot of the students while a series of assessment can test various attributes of a student like oral skills and writing skills (Kearns).
In addition, there are other alternatives and solutions that allow highly trained educator grade the tests and using performance- based test, like other countries, that consist of essays, projects, and activities (Scheaffer). Because countries using these styles are scoring higher than us, we are one of the only economically advanced nations using multiple choice- based test. The reason America uses multiple-choice test is because they are used as safeguards to ensure that race, gender, and all those other things do not affect the evaluation (Scheaffer).
Thus, there are forces leading people to want change. One of them is parents and educators, they see how this test driven schooling is destroying the educational purpose of school and how these companies who make these tests and books are do not have the child's interest in mind, but they are only trying to get the money from selling test materials (Scheaffer). This can be seen in the Texas Revolution where teachers, parents, church leaders, and organizations like the National center of fair and open testing are pushing to reduce test mandates and bring change (Scheaffer). Experiments like Kearns are causing organizations like the EQAO and how the Future of Educational Assessment commission members believe that these standardized tests that push accountability are overshadowing their purpose and they are taking action (Lee).
As a final point, the test is a great thing and it has done a lot measuring students progress, but it is not as beneficial as it was supposed to be. It is one sided and it covers the student body as a whole rejecting the individual skills of students. It also has too much power and needs some restrictions and revision, so it can fulfill its true purpose.