...Abolishing Standardized Tests Standardized tests should be abolished from schools. Standardized tests, like SOLs, are hurting students more so than they are helping them. These tests put a lot of stress on teachers and students. Test scores are used to show school improvement and how well the school is academically. Schools try to raise their test scores to make the school look better. In order to raise the scores teachers are being forced to teach to test. Teachers are only teaching students what they need to know to pass the test. These tests are forcing a curriculum and that is unfair for both teachers and students. There are many students who want to learn more and there are also teachers who want to teach more and go more in depth in a subject but they are unable to because they are required to just teach them how to pass a test. In class we hear our teacher say all the time, “...but you don’t need to know that it, it won’t on the test.” Many would think that standardized test is helpful to students because the main goal is to pass, and move up a level in school, but in reality students do not benefit from this at all because their sole purpose in learning these specific subjects are only by temporary memory. Standardized tests are so important in a students success in school. Whether or not the pass the tests determines if they pass the class. A student could do really well in class and then fail their test at the end of the year then in turn, fail the class. Not...
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...The debate of standardized testing has been going on for some time now. A standardized test is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance of individual students or groups of students. While different types of tests and assessments may be “standardized” in this way, the term is primarily associated with large-scale tests administered to sizeable populations of students. Standardized tests comprise a very important role in student’s education. Many children will take at least one standardized test every year, which means many teachers will spend significant class time on test preparation. The results can reflection the teachers' efforts as well as that of the students. In some states, standardized tests are the yardstick for determining whether a child gets to progress to the next grade level. Many parents want to know the purpose of standardized tests. The answer is that these tests help evaluate the performance of students, teachers, even whole school districts. The results provide information on a child's ability to learn new material, as well as his grasp of the material he's already supposed to understand. With that information, teachers can identify areas where specific students need more attention, while officials can identify the strengths and weaknesses...
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...Nine year old Gianna is in fourth grade, and took her first standardized test last year. Gianna is a marvelous student and does well in school; however, when it came to the test she did not do well. The whole time she was stressed out, and had no idea what she was doing because she could not focus. Her teacher spent so much class time trying to teach the class about the test that she did not get to learn much about the other subjects. For example, Gianna loves social studies, but her teacher mostly focused on math and language arts. Standardized tests is a form of test that requires all students to answer the same questions, or questions that are similar to each other. Standardized tests have gotten worse throughout the years because they have...
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...Imagine how crazy you’d go if you were stuck at a desk for hours and hours on end doing nothing but answering the most confusing questions ever. Students should not have to take standardized tests. Standardized tests are extremely stressful, they cost a whole lot of money, and they take up way too much time. First of all, standardized testing takes up way too much time. Before taking the lengthy assessments, the students have to prepare for the testing material many weeks before testing even starts. There is plenty of time in a school day for students to work, but some students’ tests are prolonged due to their desire for exemplary test scores. Some people may say that too much time is wasted on useless things so it’s alright to spend so...
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...Standardized Testing Defining an individual’s ability and a school’s worth because of standardized testing is nonsensical and erroneous. However, this is what goes on every year nation wide since the No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law in 2001. The data has come in and it can be clearly read that standardized tests do not work. These tests are holding some children back and have let the United States slip behind in education compared to the rest of the world. The biggest counter argument being that standardized testing takes objectivity out of student results. Standardized tests are an antiquated idea that has hurt more than helped. The No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law 2001 by then President George W. Bush. The Act...
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...Just imagine. You’re sitting at your school desk. You're staring a a huge packet of white paper, filled with unanswered questions. You hear the clock ticking. It feels like it's mocking you, making your feel stupid for taking your time to thoroughly read the question, and carefully choose an answer. “10 minutes!” your teacher announces. You still have yet to answer a few more questions, and write an open ended response. You feel trapped. It's like the walls are caving in on you. Your face is getting hot, you palms are sweaty, your heart is pounding. You're stuck. This is what we put our students through when we make them take standardized tests. Standardized testing should be stopped in schools. We should do this because, teachers are just...
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...Avineet Nanjappa Fletcher English Language Arts 5th 2 March, 2016 Standardized Tests in a Better World It is March 31st and it is also STAAR day. Everyone has their study guides out, and there is free breakfast in the cafeteria. Your heart is pumping so hard you can feel it pulsing throughout your body. Students complain to their parents about having way too much studying to do. Parents across America have been complaining about their kids taking standardized tests. Teachers have been complaining about how standardized tests judge their teaching skills. Standardized tests should be abolished because it puts stress on school, and it wastes a lot of class time. Standardized tests have been around since the 1900s. In World War I, generals...
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...Standardized tests are poor because they measure a student's level of education by giving them tests that if they fail, it would jeopardize their future therefore they should get rid of them. It is wrong for a student to complete four years of high school with good grades and other good qualifications, and then have that student take a test and be placed at a remedial level due to the scores they receive. Standardized tests are a waste of time, because some people actually know the information and are smart, but they are just bad tests takers or maybe they just are not good with a test, which does not mean they should be put in remedial classes or be denied admission to the university they want to go to because of that. Standardized test are...
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...I believe the emphasis put on standardized test by college admissions must change because how unfair it is to all students. I do not think these test should be able to determine how well a student will do in college because of numerous reasons. First, as mentioned before, not all students have the advantage of receiving all resources to help them get outstanding grades in these tests. Second, not all students who do well in school are good test takers. In addition, the process students have to go through to achieve standardized tests, is stressful for both teachers and student. Since standardized tests are testing students knowledge and basically everything they know in limited time, there are many factors that can impact their ability to show their actual knowledge....
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...Controversy over High-Stakes Testing Hannah DeBose Dr. Tzipora Katz EDU-505: Contemporary Issues in Education 10-28-13 Alfie Kohn article on Standardized Testing and its Victims has some great key points. The article is divided into 8 key fact points. Fact 1 brings to light about how frequently the students are being tested and how big of a role theses test play a role on student progress. Kohn provides numerous examples to substantiate his concern that the tests are politically driven, inappropriate as measures of learning substantive skills, and counterproductive. Fact 2 describes the life of the student, number of parents living at home, parents' educational background, type of community, and poverty rate all have a factor on student. We debate this issue because it is not fair that student of a low poverty school does not receive the same benefits as the more privileged schools do. Students living in high poverty environments are mostly to dropout, do poor on test, and have harder time grasping information. Many low poverty schools do not have the educators that they should have. Meaning they may have uncertified teachers, or many first year teachers. Many teachers go to high poverty school Fact 3 Norm-referenced tests were never intended to measure the quality of learning or teaching. This type of test identifies whether the test taker performed better or worse than other test takers, but not whether the test taker knows either more or less material...
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...students. Standardized tests have been around for a long time and have not shown any improvement. Standardized tests are a waste of money because billions of dollars are spent on it. The tests have unreachable goals for the kids and they have gotten rid of some classes that aren't on the test. During the tests they put all the students in one room and expect every kid in the room to be silent and not talk for multiple days. The younger kids have a hard time since they want to talk to their friend but they can not.The tests have no use or no improvements are shown on these tests academically. This is why these tests are not essential The amount money spent on the tests is outrageous .According to Brown Center of Education...
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...represents exactly what education should be in every society. Education is key to the expansion and prosperity of civilization and it is what keeps us, as a human race, growing. All over the world students are learning to improve themselves to eventually improve their society. The problem here is that not everyone values the importance of education as much as they should. From examination of completion rates and analysis of standardized tests, it is clear that America is falling behind many countries, Japan in particular. This disparity between America and Japan is shown not only in academics, but also in competition for jobs. The better the education people achieve, the more advancements the country can have, and the more successful that nation will be as a whole. America needs to refocus its value on education to emphasize its importance to avoid falling behind on a global scale of educated citizens. One of the main reasons America is falling behind Japan is that the high school drop out rate in America is 1.2 million students a year, which is 6,000 students a day (The Broad Center). The fact that this many students are forfeiting their education everyday is disturbing. Students can just ease their way through and earn a high school degree; so dropping out shouldn’t even be an option. In Japan, the drop out rate is significantly lower and graduating high school is Japan is much more challenging. With all the resources available in American high schools, there is no excuse for why...
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...living in poverty and those that are wealthy. After given a standardized test every year, the school is required to take different actions if their school does not improve each year such as directing a chunk of it’s funding to teacher development, giving students the option to transfer, changing it’s curriculum, or having the school shut down altogether. My claim is that we should adjust or amend the No Child Left Behind Act. No Child Left Behind’s attempt to narrow achievement gaps by ensuring that all children receive a quality education is admirable, but it is hardly realistic. Teachers would have to devote their entire time to teaching specifically just math and English. By doing that they block out any other subjects such as science, history, art, or any other important elective or subject. We should adjust the law by having less harsh punishments that way the students and teachers are not constantly stressing, and most importantly because we want to keep the students from doubting themselves academically. Some people may argue that 2 over time the achievement gap will close because we will have devoted enough time to math and English to prove that no child is getting left behind. I will address this concern by stating that we should not ban this law, just simply make simple yet extravagant changes such as fewer penalties, removing disabled children from the act, and including other subjects into the testing. With...
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...High school students who are planning on attending college must take a standardized examination to test ones understanding of basic concepts. For those students who want to attend an Ivy league or elite college, the SATs are more than just a test. It is a deciding factor whether one will be accepted or not into a college or university. The scores completely overlook the determination, creativity, and desire of students to try and reach their goal. The SATs are a phony test that does not evaluate ones overall knowledge; they are overstated on their value and lead young students to a lot of pressure and stress. The SAT test is good in theory, but should not be used to measure intelligence. Some claim that the test should be required to test students physically and mentally on how well they perform on tests. Large-scale meta-analyses by researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that “SAT performance is as good of a predictor of overall college grade point average as it is of freshman grade point average” and other researchers have documented that “the SAT predicts life outcomes well beyond the college years including income and occupational achievements” (Lubinksi and Benbow, 1). However, this is not true. How can one test, one score, one meaningless number, indicate how well you will do in life? The SATs should not be a determining factor of whether a student is admitted to a university or not. Taking an SAT test is not for all students. Some people are...
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...Industrial Revolution In the previous class, we learned the changes of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution had changed literally everything. Lives changed, roles changed, education changed, homes changed, health changed, romance changed; everything had changed. The elements of the home changed in quite a few ways. The home was always filled with the people that lived there because they spend their time at home. The home was made of things that you could find locally or that you could make by hand. Houses were made out of mud, wood, and straw. The family had basically slept in the same bed for less consumption of space and for warmth. Not only did they live with the entire family, however they lived with fleas, rats, and lice. This allowed diseases to be spread and in effect, the population was very little because of the severity of the diseases. After the Revolution, the home is filled with less people because the people transport to other places. The home is filled with things that you can find all over the world. Houses are made out of steel frames, wood, glass windows, and very sturdy materials in addition to the idea that specialized workers made your home. The refrigerator and toilet were invented and people slept in different beds causing an increase in the population due to the decrease in disease. The elements of man and woman had changed as well. Man and woman married each other for survival. Man and woman needed each other for...
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