Setting: The story begins in 1958 then flashes back to 1942-43, at Devon School, New Hampshire…
Standardized testing has been a heavily debated topic for many years because it is not evident if testing is more beneficial or detrimental for children or schools. There are many pros and cons associated with the use of standardized testing. Most educators agree that there needs to be a method of accountability for schools and school districts. However, the question remains, are students tested too much? Additionally, to what extent can a standardize test assess students achievement? Some states use alternative methods of assessment. President Obama pledged to reduce the amount of standardized testing in our schools mainly because it is clear that standardized testing has not improved student achievement in the United States. Standardized…
Michelle Obama once said, “If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I would not be here. I guarantee you that.” Standardized testing began a long time ago in China. It was a basic form to determine the eligibility for positions in the government of the ruling class. A standardized test is an analysis that is overseen and scored in a scheduled manner. In 2001 President George W. Bush passed the ‘No Child Left Behind’ education reform which expanded the state mandated standardized testing and assesses the schools performance. Standardized testing is not a proper way to measure the abilities of students. Students will take so many standardized tests that they become…
When going to school students are supposed to learn based off a curriculum, but instead they are learning based off a test. These test are meant to help students, but instead they are hurting them. Standardized test requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way. Also they are scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of individual students or groups of students. Each state has a different name for their standardized test, for Virginia they call theirs the Standards Of Learning, SOL’s. These test are neither fair nor objective, puts pressure on the students, and it cuts off time in the school year.…
People who advocate for standardized tests say they are inclusive and non-discriminatory because they ensure content is equivalent for all students. Lelac Almagor, who advocates for the positives, standardized testing, wrote an article titled “The Good in Standardized Testing,” in the Boston Review. Almagor writes that “[T]esting doesn’t produce the staggering gaps in performance between privileged and unprivileged students… [t]esting only seeks to tell the truth about those gaps.” I appreciate the commitment of these teachers who find new ways to prep kids for standardized tests, rather than complain and not teach the kids.…
Diagnostic tests are used to identify the needs of students that may need extra guided instruction by testing specific skills. Standardized tests are a type of diagnostic tests that are used to diagnose individual learning problems or strengths of the students. The most commonly used forms of standardized testing are when they are used to evaluate students’ progress and teachers’ and schools’ effectiveness (Slavin, 2015, p.385,386). Benchmark assessments are another way schools will assess students usually in reading and math. These assessments are used to give schools useful information on students’ progress to benefit them in the future (Slavin, 2015, p.404).…
Standardized tests are not only used to measure student achievement. They are frequently used to gage how well teachers are teaching. These tests measure the amount of information being tested and the amount of information that isn’t learned or forgotten. Using test scores to reward and punish teachers and students encourages them to cheat the system for their own gain. For example, according to a…
When the topic of standardized testing arises are there typically two types of people. Those who are for standardized testing and those who are against standardized testing. In this article it talks about how both sides affect the minority races. On one hand Sonja Brookins Santelises states that standardized tests can benefit from these tests. She goes on to saying these tests gives parents a way to view if their children are not being served well by the teachers and the school district. I am personally not for standardized testing, but I like the point that Sonja made. It is the first point of view from an opposite opinion of mine that I can agree with. There were other parties in this article that were against the standardized test and their points were…
Not only are these test designed to sort and categorize children, but it also causes certain schools to be closed because of low scores. As Alfie Kohn says, “Standardized testing has swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole.” Imagine how it might feel for a child who doesn’t live in the best neighbor and gets their school closed down because of low test scores on a BIASED test. Perhaps it might seem bizarre, but some test even contain errors. In contrast, to what I believe, some people actually believe standardized tests aren’t biased.They say that standardized tests are valid and reliable tools for all groups. According To Armour-Thomas and Gopaul- McNicol, tests are culturally fair and items do not favor a particular cultural group.They also state that the tasks assess the abilities underlying intellectual behavior for all groups. These people who don’t think standardized test are biased believe the tests therefore accurately predict performance for all…
Standardized testing has become the focus of modern school reform since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind law in 2002 (Evans 1). The act was designed to hold all public schools to a high standard of education, measured by the results of students’ test scores on statewide standardized tests. Not all students are good test takers, and not all careers require the ability to take traditional tests in order to be successful on the job. A significant number of students nowadays would care much about standardized tests. This is because students feel like they must worry about a test which directly affects their grades and ability to learn. Standardized tests place a heavy weight on students that can lead to stress, take up instruction timing, and students won’t be able to learn anything from them.…
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 stress on the teachers and students and cause traumatizing events.…
Since my first exchange program to the U.S. my mind has been filled with memories of taking standardized tests. In junior high I was introduced to the MEAPs, and the agonizing tests went on until my senior year of high school when I took the dreadful ACT. I remember the importance that our teachers and school administrators stressed concerning the ACT, because they had a reputation to uphold in the education system. The schools are ranked in each district based on how well the students perform on the standardized tests. We, as students, were brainwashed by the school system to believe that these tests are of considerable importance and that they measure our intelligence, but the reality is that these tests really prove who is a better test taker.…
Students growing up in America are tested frequently with standardized tests for better or for worse. America values standardized testing because it causes schools to feel pressured to increase the level of education. Americans test from an early age, contrary to other countries. They currently test students abundantly, and often the results are used to measure their academic status. America is very comfortable with its methods of standardized testing despite much criticism (Kohn, 2000). Despite the benefits of standardized tests, for many reasons they are inaccurate in assessing one’s intellectual abilities; therefore, they cannot be used to predict one’s future academic success.…
Schools across the United States are forced to give their students standardized tests. Standardized tests are multiple choice tests based on a list of state standards that a teacher is required to teach. The state makes schools give these tests to measure student achievement. In most schools, these tests go toward a big percentage of a student’s grade and in some cases determine whether the student will pass or fail a class. One can argue that standardized tests are useful; however, more people would argue that the tests are unfair and ineffective. Even though standardized tests are said to be useful in measuring student achievement, they should not be given because each student learns differently, they affect how much students will learn, they are harmful to student confidence, and some students are not good test takers.…
First off, there is a looming racial bias towards minorities in standardized testing. In New York City, there are specialized high schools where admission is solely based on a standardized test, the Specialized High School Admissions Test. Statistics from 2011 show that out of the 12,525 black and Hispanic students who had taken the exam, only 733 were offered seats. It doesn’t really help that only 19 African Americans were offered seats…