The United States is ranked in the Top 5 of the world, having the most intelligent people in the world. Being one of the most intellegent countries, our education system is not far from those being ranked higher and lower than the United States. Most countries around the world gives their student what is known as a Standerized Test. A Standerized Test is a test given according to standerized procedures to students who's scores are then compared with a given standard. Students have been challenged annually by these test, and most students do not score in the acceptable range in the United States which can affect schools tremendously. Schools around the country would take their students scores to see where students have difficulty at most. Teachers do not know how to prepare their students for these assessments and students are just willing to give up due to the lack of preperation for these test. If the United States is ranked as one of the smartest countries in the world, it is impossible to think that most students do not come to par with the expected scores from these test. Schools aren’t benefitting from these tests anymore because students are just dropping out or not taking the test as serious. Districts are starting to close down schools because of low results of the majority of classes. The parents do not know what to do and can not help about this topic anymore since the government has enforced almost every school to take these standardized tests. Schools also depend on these tests greatly and are unable to notice the other skills and knowledge the students have. Are these standardized test really beneficial to the public school systems?
The ranges of standardized test are administered at all levels of public education....
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..., it is not the best tool to measure the subjective nature of various learning standards. (Moore). To add on to that standardized test started be more frequently used. On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the latest reauthorization of the Elementary and secondary Education Act. The new law will require that students in grades 3-8 take state wide standardized tests every year in math and reading. (Crone). When teaching to the test there is a rise in test results. No matter how we measure changes in test scores, there is a tendency in the early years after a new high-stakes test is introduced for scores to rise rapidly. (Crone). Standardized test can be academically beneficial in many different ways, but it also can have its downturns. This leaves the teachers responsible of the student’s results on standardized test.
Miltich, Matthew. "Standardized Testing and Assessment Do Not Improve Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 151-54. Print.
The policy “No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” is a policy where Federal legislation has mandated that children be tested, and where there is compliance with standards. Simply means, that all children must meet standards. The standards are defined by the states, and all children will be subject to testing, starting from as early as third grade. The students will be tested annually, in order to ensure that they are getting the type of education that they are entitled to, as determined by their performance on standardized tests.
Though standardized testing has played a part in America's education system it took several tries before it played such a large role in education like it does today. The No child left Behind Act of 2002 was the foot hold standardized testing needed in order to be implemented into schools at a national level with such force. During the 1990’s the U.S felt as though it was falling behind on the Programme for International Assessment. “After No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, the US slipped from 18th in the world in math on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in reading”(walker 1).
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
Worthen, Blaine R., and Vicki Spandel. "Putting the Standardized Testing Debate in Perspective." Educational Leadership Feb. 1991: 65-69. ASCD. 1 Dec. 2013
“Students are taking between ten and twenty standardized tests, depending on the grade. A total average of one hundred thirteen different ones by graduation.”(Locker) A few years ago the United States, along with other nations, was given a test to assess the academic strengths and weaknesses of each nation and rank them accordingly. When the results were released and the United States was ranked near the bottom, it was decided to start incorporating more testing through school. Between benchmark, TLI, PARCC, and common core standards, teaching technique was forced to change. Standardized testing has had a negative effect on teachers and students, implementing inadequate grading standards and the common core curriculum, such testing has made
Almost state has gained federal funding from accumulating the test data from all of their schools (Ravitch 107). Data collected from multiple choice questions determines the intelligence of every student and their teachers. The test data is tracked throughout their lifetime in relation to their test scores, graduation dates and other statistics companies such as Amazon and Microsoft use to evaluate different groups (by age, ethnicity, etc) as a whole (Ravitch 107). Ravitch claims there are many problems with this, mainly, tests do not measure character, spirit, heart, soul, and potential (112). Not everyone is the same, and just because one may be weak in math or writing doesn’t mean they’re not smart, resourceful individuals with much to share with the world. For schools to be even seen with a slight amount more than just their test scores, they have to be in great standings with their students’ average test results. The government’s intense focus on test results hurts schools’ ability to be a well-rounded school immensely. In contrast to federal’s pinpoint focus on what students learn, educated consumers desire their kids to have a full, balanced, and rich curriculum (Ravitch 108). Schools need to be more than housing for test-takers. The Education Board may claim students’ proficiency in their testing makes them better people, prepares them for college, and ultimately, the workforce. What they are
In 2002, President George W. Bush passed the “No Child Left Behind Act” which tied in schools’ public funding to standardized tests and enforced the tests in elementary and high schools every year by state education departments. This law also began to put more emphasize on standardized tests which has diminished our level of education and the law “made standardized test scores the primary measure of school quality” (Diane Ravitch 28). Bush hoped this law motivated more students to do well on these exams and teachers to help them prepare better, but it ended up hurting many schools in the process. These exams like the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) should not play such a prominent role in schooling and the government should not make tests the main focal point.
Parents and advocates of education can all agree that they want their students to be in the best hands possible in regards to education. They want the best teachers, staffs, and schools to ensure their student’s success. By looking at the score results from standardized testing, teachers can evaluate effectively they are doing their job. On the other side, a proponent for eliminating standardized testing would argue that not all students care passionately about their education and will likely not perform to expectations on the test. However, receiving the numerical data back, teachers can construe the student’s performances and eliminate the outliers of the negligent kids. Teachers can then look at the individual scores and assign those outliers to get the help they need in school. This helps every student getting an equal chance at education. Overall, taking a practice standardized test can let a teacher look at individual questions and scores and interpret what they need to spend more time on teaching. A school also can reap the benefits from standard testing to ensure they are providing the best possible education they can. The school can look at the average scores from a group and hold the teacher accountable for the student’s results on the test. The school can then determine the best course of action to pursuit regarding the teacher’s career at the school. By offering teachers and schools the opportunity to grow and prosper, standardized testing is a benefit for the entire education
This required each state to develop a set of standards that each child would need to know in math and reading. The NCLB also required almost all of the students to be tested annually throughout elementary and middle school grades (Webb, Metha, Jordan 2013). The act also strived that all students would test at a proficient level by 2014. The impact of this decision was that the government would be more involved than ever before in how a school taught, what the school taught, and the requirements of outcomes. The downside impact of this was that states changed the proficiency levels over the years and there has been inconsistent data given when reported. In a report with control groups it is shown that there were changes before and after implementation of the NCLB (Ladd 2010). With that information one could conclude that the act was successful and should be further pursued along with
...o by with standardized test being used in schools and other places, U.S. is creating many different ways to raise the standards high for our future education. Although being amung of the most educated countries in the world, the U.S. education level has fallen in the last decade. Standardized test has failed in many ways to be beneficial to public educations. Furthermore, it has proven to create more problems to it. These test do not address what a student is fully capable of and does not represent how smart they are. Schools are getting shut down because of the lack of students
There’s nothing worse than to have students sum up all their knowledge, skills, thoughts, talents, and abilities into one multiple-choice test with one “right” answer. This is why assessments must encompass more ways of evaluating students than a paper and pencil strategy that does not account for the various competences of every student. This is one of the many reasons why standardized testing has been undoubtedly one of the most controversial topics in education to date. With this being said, there are alternatives to standardized tests that involve different opportunities including portable portfolios, performance exams, exhibitions, and/or recorded sessions to better “test” a student’s knowledge and abilities.
As of 2013 America is ranked at 17th in the world for education according to a global report by Pearson, an educational company used in all parts of the globe (Huffpost). Countries of higher ranking than the United States tend to have a different view on education from citizens’ points of view. Instead of looking at teachers like any other normal job, they look at teachers as having a “higher status” in society and have a “culture” of education and not as something you just have to go to until your old enough to do what you want. Instead they treat it as a gift to them being able to attend school and not forced as we are. As of 2009 the U.S. has slipped from 18th to 31st from since 2000 leading to believe that something has to change now (Pros & Cons). The reason why this is important and ties into standardized testing is because the base to student’s knowledge is how the teachers prepare them for tests. If teachers are taken for granted and not treated well then this could have a negative impact on the students. Only 6 percent of U.S. students achieved an advanced level on an international exam taken by 56 countries compared to 30 other countries that had more than 6 percent (Huffpost). Perhaps with the U.S. doing poorly on standardized does it link back to the education
There is added pressure to schools to get better scores which adds pressure to the educators and the students. The added pressure can cause health problems with the students or the educators. If health problem come from the stress of the tests it could negatively affect the student’s ability to learn (Pros and Cons, 2013). The test itself is a problem as well. The test is supposed to be unbiased based on the grade level but in most cases the test is not. As much as they try...