...What role should standardized testing play in Texas' public education system? The methods by which children are educated and academically measured in Texas have evolved over the past few decades, due to federal and state directed education policies. In an effort to establish accountability and improve the nation's competitiveness on a global scale, standardized testing has become a driving component of curricula nationwide. Almost every state, including Texas, governs its public schools under a national policy directive known as the "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB). The NCLB requires all states to utilize assessments to determine and report if a school has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) in the proficiency levels of all students. This is a relatively recent shift from local control of schools to centralized governance which is intended to improve education and eliminate harmful disparities in education quality (Ricci 342). Instead of school districts determining education standards, the state and federal governments provide the policy direction. One method to assess education performance and compliance with the centralized policy is the use of accountability measures - i.e., standardized tests. The NCLB, coupled with state policy, is intended to decrease inequality and set an objective measurement in place where school districts, schools, teachers, and even students can be held accountable for their progress or lack thereof. However, there are arguments from opponents...
Words: 10323 - Pages: 42
...students, and last but not least; witnessing that the stress of the school is rising…You know it’s testing time. This all happens at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. Many tests take 1 to 2 days when others, have a duration of 2-3 weeks. As an employee of an elementary school, I have had many years of preparation and participation of such events. All employees must sign affidavits before administration of tests occur, and all materials are delivered and picked up on a scheduled timeframe. “Standardized Tests are a type of exam that assess the student’s capability on the...
Words: 1192 - Pages: 5
...Behind/Race to the Top Title: Dictating to the Schools: A Look at the Effect of the Bush and Obama Administrations on Schools. Ravitch is likely against too much government influence on schools and feels that government control is detrimental. Intended audience: The intended audience is primarily professionals in the field of education and education policy, including teachers and school administrators. However, parents with school-aged children and citizens interested in education reform or education policy could also be included as part of the audience. Writer’s background: Ravitch is an educational researcher and a former professor. Writer’s angle: Any discussion regarding how to best implement education reform in our schools is arguable, especially when the subject of standardized testing is involved. Individuals will hold different views on the topic depending on their political backgrounds, affiliations with education policy, and position on standardized testing. Ravitch is opposed to the use of standardized tests and believes they have a negative effect on schools. Part 1: The one-sentence summary Ravitch (2011), U.S. Department of Education’s Assistant Secretary of Education, criticizes the Obama administration for following Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy, explaining that the government places an overreliance on standardized test scores and teaching to the test over rich curriculum and true reform for underachieving schools. Part 2: The one-paragraph summary ...
Words: 719 - Pages: 3
...Critical Review of Cizek, Gregory J. (2005). High-Stakes Testing: Contexts, Characteristics, Critiques, and Consequences In Richard Phelps (Ed.), Defending Standardized Testing (pp. 23-54). New York, New York: Psychological Press. By Cheryl LeBlanc-Weldon When I decided to delve into the issue of high-stakes testing, I purposefully set out to find its defenders. Critical thinking is important to me and part of the process of thinking critically is to view a variety of perspectives on an issue in order to obtain an informed understanding and from that, an opinion. As an experienced educator, I have participated in standardized testing in a variety of ways. I have administered and graded tests in both Mathematics and Language Arts. I believe that currently in Nova Scotia we don’t have the type of high-stakes testing they have in the USA and other parts of the world. Our students do not need to achieve a certain level of achievement on the standardized tests they take in order to grade and teachers are not fired or have their salaries docked when students fail to achieve the benchmarks. Still, the provincial tests our students write do have a degree of importance in that the results are published for media and public consumption (which directly affects the opinion people form of the health of our education system) and certain resources are channeled into schools with the weakest performance. In addition, the way students view themselves and their abilities are affected...
Words: 3001 - Pages: 13
...Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice Volume 7 | Issue 1 Article 2 September 2013 The Legal Implications of Gender Bias in Standardized Testing Katherine Connor Ellen J. Vargyas Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj Recommended Citation Katherine Connor and Ellen J. Vargyas, The Legal Implications of Gender Bias in Standardized Testing, 7 Berkeley Women's L.J. 13 (1992). Available at: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj/vol7/iss1/2 Link to publisher version (DOI) http://dx.doi.org/ This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals and Related Materials at Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice by an authorized administrator of Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact jcera@law.berkeley.edu. The Legal Implications of Gender Bias in Standardized Testing Katherine Connort Ellen J. Vargyast TABLE OF CONTENTS I. II. INTRODUCTION ....................................... THE FACTUAL CONTEXT ............................. A. The Scope of the Problem ............................ 1. Post-Secondary Admissions Tests .................. 2. Vocational Aptitude Tests and Interest Inventories. B. Causes of Gender Differences in Test Scores ........... 1. Post-Secondary Admissions Tests .................. 2. Vocational Aptitude Tests and Interest Inventories. C. Validity of the Tests .......................
Words: 43113 - Pages: 173
...particularly good selection tool to distinguish the productivity, skills, behavior and the motivation of the employee. Using interviews alone does not give sufficient information for effective selection decision making, particularly in areas that are not amenable to training, such as cognitive ability and attitude ( Webster, 2010). Psychological assessments are used in succession planning, employee screening, pre-employment decisions, and employee counseling situations. From a purely financial view, if psychological testing can prevent you from making one bad hire, it probably saves you tens of thousands of dollars. From an organizational perspective, there is no better growth strategy than using every tool available to hire and develop the best people (Lakin, 2011). Engaging in pre-employment testing methods is of utmost importance in today’s workforce. First, Human Resource managers and hiring managers want to select the most qualified candidates to fill open positions within their organizations because the most qualified...
Words: 7989 - Pages: 32
...Freakonomics Key Terms : Conventional Wisdom : Explanations generally accepted as true. Correlation : Relationship between two or more things which change (variables) and can be described mathematically; Refers to how closely sets of information or data are related. For example: Smoking has a high correlation with lung cancer. Freakonomics : Study of economics based on the principle of incentives. Incentives means of urging to do more of a good thing or less of a bad thing. :A The Authors identify three kinds: 1. Economic Incentivesperson responds in the marketplace – 2. Social Incentivesmotivate people to respond in a certain way – because they care (or are worried) about how they’ll be viewed by others 3. Moral Incentivesappeal to a person’s sense of right versus wrong – Informational Asymmetry : Situation in which one party has more information than the other party. Snob Effect : The desired to own exclusive or unique goods. The demand increases as the price increases. Freakonomics provided me with concrete illustrations of how unconventional methods of data collection and analysis are often necessary to make sense of the world. Knowing what to measure (and how to measure) data makes a complicated world ... somewhere less complicated. As I read the dumbstrucking Freakonomics, I found this quote, “If you learn how to look at data in the right way, you can explain riddles that otherwise might have seemed impossible...
Words: 1657 - Pages: 7
...however are school board officials, parents, and even students. Gutting’s main thesis explains how we should be finding a reason as to why students do bad on standardized tests and how schools shouldn’t be so hasty to make changes because every students test differently from each other and one drastic change won’t necessarily fix the problems. Even though I agree with the point he is trying to get across, there are points in his argument where I don’t wholeheartedly agree with and that are weak and could use more substantial evidence. He often contradicts himself and statements he makes are opinionated. Not to mention that the examples he refutes, like the survey he included, are unreliable which goes back to where his argument is weak. There are a couple areas up for improvement, regarding the weak areas and contradicting statements. “What do test scores tell us” begins with telling how standardized testing isn’t used to benefit students, but that it’s used more as an evaluation for teachers and the school system. It then goes on explaining how bad test scores cause “educational reform”, supporting this with evidence...
Words: 1635 - Pages: 7
...viewing the applicants’ documents, a telephone conference in an unstructured manner with the applicants, and obtaining three references from former employers. These three modules were related to background research of the applicant. The Second Tier included a panel interview, a biography oriented in-depth interview, a simulated group exercise, and testing. They used the 6-eye method to view the application documents for each candidate. This method involved the use of a 3 person team evaluating the applicants’ documentation. This gave the company a broad perspective on each candidate. This also allowed them to screen out candidates that were obvious mismatches in relation to the job. This was followed by interviewing the candidates via telephone with the attendees being the candidate and a two person team that consisted the Supervisor at the APAC site and one person from the German headquarters. The purpose of this was to verify the candidate’s suitability for the position, his/her motivation for the position, and to gain an overall impression of the candidate. If a consensus was reached that the candidate was suitable for the position then they would be asked for three references. Asking for the references would allow the company to filter out any cheaters or impostors like they had done successfully in Europe. References could also give them more information about the candidate in relation to education, employment history, character and interpersonal competence, ability to perform...
Words: 1019 - Pages: 5
...purpose is to comply with the requirement for having adequate capital and the Supervisory review process under Pillar II. These disclosures are intended to assess information about the Banks exposure to various risks. 1 Capital Adequacy Ratio - As per BASEL II In terms of aforesaid Circular, available capital of the Bank is Taka 4,726,843,656 (Core capital Taka 4,641,622,449 and Supplementary Capital Taka 85,221,207) as against a minimum capital requirement of Taka 4,000,000,000 or 773,244,707 (10% of RWA as per Basel-II) whichever is higher at the close of business on 31 December 2011 thus resulting in surplus capital of Taka 726,843,656 at that date. Details are shown below: a) Core capital (Tier I) Fully Paid-up Capital/Capital Deposited with Bangladesh Bank (BB) Statutory Reserve Non-repayable share premium account General Reserve Retained earnings Minority interest in Subsidiaries Non-Cumulative irredeemable Preferences shares Dividend Equalization Account Deductions from Tier-1 (Core Capital): Book value of Goodwill Shortfall in provisions required against classified assets irrespective of any Deficit on account of revaluation of investment in AFS category Any investment in TFCs of other banks exceeding the prescribed limit Other if any Total Eligible Tier-I Capital b) Supplementary capital (Tier II) General Provision for Unclassified loans & Off Balance Sheet (Limited to 1.25% of RWA) Assets revaluation reserves All other preference shares Perpetual subordinated debts Exchange...
Words: 5912 - Pages: 24
...The No Child Left Behind Act By: Carroll Zentz Abstract The No Child Left behind Act is a law that was formulated by George W. Bush within one week of being in office in 2001. A few months later the law passed in January of 2002. The reason the No Child Left behind Act was enacted was to better the education for the children of America. The No Child Left behind Act is a very controversial topic, due to the lack of funding provided by the government, and how teachers get laid off for not being deemed �highly qualified� teachers. However, statistics have indicated that the No Child Left behind Act has helped to make an improvement in the education for the youth of America. No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left behind (NCLB) Act is now a United States federal law that was created to improve the public school system. This is the first amendment that has been made since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. President George W. Bush felt that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was inadequate. So he devised his own way to try and improve it, thus creating the No Child Left behind Act. Another reason George W. Bush created the No Child Left behind Act is because he was noticing that the achievement gap between minority students and white students was growing. The No Child Left behind Act has many theories that should equal perfection according to President Bush. Some of these theories entail all students being proficient by the 2013-2014...
Words: 1913 - Pages: 8
...Council for Education Standards and Testing, 1992 discussions, and more. Now, 10 years later, we are hearing the same reminder (Brennan, Kim, WenzGross, Siperstein, 2001; Herman, 2001; International Reading Association, 1999). In fact, in July 2001 members of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, endorsed a policy calling for a combination of standardized tests and other assessment tools such as teacher designed assessments when making important educational decisions (Blair & Archer, 2001). Assessment has always been a part of the educational landscape. However, because assessment can serve so many different purposes and can come in so many different forms, it has been confusing and, sometimes, it has been the subject of contentious debate. Unfortunately, as a result, many of us have come to view assessment as a necessary evil, a requirement rather than a helpful part of instruction. But assessment IS a critical part of instruction and it CAN be useful if we understand the pieces of the puzzle. As far back as 1992, when the standards movement was launched, the National Council for Education Standards and Testing, a team of experts in education, assessment and policy, reminded our nation of the different purposes for assessment— from public accountability to creating individualizing instructional plans for children. They also cautioned us to use multiple measures to fit these purposes including standardized...
Words: 6073 - Pages: 25
...foundational aspect of society. I will further evaluate the examples put forth by Luke Harris and Uma Narayan in support of Affirmative Action. I will also analyze the counter-arguments provided by Louis Pojman, claiming that Affirmative Action is reverse discrimination against the white male majority and...
Words: 1274 - Pages: 6
...Selection One of the most important functions of the Human Resources department is the recruitment and selection process. The process, good or bad, has a direct affect on the business. The Human Resources Manager is responsible for planning, executing, and evaluating the recruitment and selection process. Through this process, he will perform interviews and pre-employment screenings, select employees, oversee the hiring and on-boarding process, monitor retention as well as execute terminations (Brunot, n.d.). There are multiple ways to source candidates. Many employers choose to promote from within first, only opening positions up to the public after all internal resources have been exhausted. It is common in today’s market to use recruiting sites such as Monster, CareerBuilder, and Indeed. The sites allow the potential employer to list available positions. Potential employees can post a resume for employers to view. Although traditional sources, including the newspaper advertisements and job fairs are still used, many employers are monitoring employment changes by their competitors, hoping to recruit employees who already have industry knowledge (Mayhew, n.d.). In an effort to gain insight and align potential employees with the job at hand, employers are using a variety of recruitment and selection tests....
Words: 2624 - Pages: 11
... Are the aims and objectives of the research clearly stated? Answer: Yes, aims and objectives of this research are to improve the relationship between classroom instruction and standardized test content and to see the effects these have on students,” parents and teachers. • What are the goals of the research? Answer: The goals of this research are: 1. To identify factors that affect student performance 2. To...
Words: 1758 - Pages: 8
