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The United States has persistently been ranked at the bottom when it comes to education among developed countries. They have tried to come up with strategic ways to change their ranking, like standardized tests. This is an administered test over certain subjects like Math, English, History, and Science, and the form is the same for all test takers. They were not the first country to develop this method; in fact, this method was inspired from other countries that appeared to be doing better than them and still remain ranked at the bottom.
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.
“More than half of public school students in New York City failed their English exams,” (Medina). There are so many students that are continuously failing these exams and being held back from the next grade level or from graduating high school. These exams are doing more harm than good since students are failing to actually learn information. The students are so worried about passing the exams that they just try to re...
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Kohn, Alfie. What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated? and More Essays on Standards, Grading, and Other Follies. Boston, MA: Beacon, 2004. Print.
Medina, Jennifer. "New Standards Mean More F's In State Testing." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 July 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2014
Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. New York: Basic, 2010. Print
Robinson, Rachel. Personal interview. 26 Apr. 2014.
Sacks, Peter. Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It. Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 2000. Print.
Story. "StoryCartoons.com.": Cult of Standardized Testing. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
"Study Finds Standardized Tests Hurting Students." Chicago Tribune. 16 Oct. 1992. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
In the 1990’s, I grew up taking the TAAS test or Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. I did not know why we had to take them but everyone had to and teachers tried to prepare us as much as they can. Then in the 2003, the state decided to change it to TAKS test or Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. I knew that I had passed, but as a student we do not question why we have to take these tests. We are only told that they are important to our education and graduating to the next grade or from high school. A few years afterwards they had switched to a new standardized test form called STAAR which stands for State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. It seems that a last few tests were not accurate in monitoring students’ progress and controversy surrounding incorrectly scored questions. The STAAR test which has been supported in legislative passage will now be the current standard method of assessing students and districts. The focus shifting mainly on standardized testing has left Dallas Independent School District with less than stellar performance compared to other districts.
In the text, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, author Diane Ravitch explores her ideological shift on school reform and the empirical evidence that caused this shift. Once a proponent and contributor of testing, accountability, choice, and market reforms, Ravitch’s support began to diminish as she realized that these current reforms were not viable options. She came to realize that the new school reforms focused entirely on structural and managerial adjustments and that no focus was given to actual learning.
Miltich, Matthew. "Standardized Testing and Assessment Do Not Improve Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 151-54. Print.
In “Standardized testing undermines teaching,” the author, Diane Ravitch, reviewed a book she authored, The death and life of the great American school system: how testing and choice are undermining education. This review highlights various cons of Standardized testing on the students and educators. She states that standardized testing and the use of incentives to motivate students and educators have failed to meet the set goals. Although the author was at the forefront of advocating for this system, she is now opposed to it and sceptical of the use of incentives to motivate teachers. She also reviews the role of charter schools in perpetuating classism. She states that standard tests and the use of...
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
“Students take 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.
Since the release of the report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in December of 2010 many in the government and community are searching for ways to reform the American education system to give American students the greatest opportunity to succeed. According to the report, American students are not testing as high as other nations in the world (Duncan, 2010). There are many contributing elements that have brought America to her knees in the education system, however, the obsession with standardized testing is found to be one of the most influential downfalls.
The Education Reform Movement of the 1980’s has cast a bright spotlight on high schools (Archbald, and Newmann 7). Parents wish to see how their child is doing in school so they look at the results from the standardized tests. School boards want accountability, proof that the amount of money they spent on education that year is making an impact on student achievement. This amount of pressure has led to an increased reliance on testing in order to monitor the achievement of students, more specifically, competency and norm-referenced standardized tests. Although the results from standardized tests are widely accepted today as trustworthy and effective measures of educational outcomes by some, other’s views on standardized testing have shifted
Standardize tests have been a topic of controversy in the American educational system. Educators, students, and parents are debating whether standardize tests are truly beneficial or if these tests are a waste of time and resources. I argue that standardize tests serve a purpose and are beneficial for students’ academic futures.
Since 3rd grade, Texas and other states have been taking standardized test. Standardized testing has not improved student achievement nor brought up the United States national ranking. Students are more stressed than ever and are not taking the test seriously. The government should do away with standardized testing because there has not been any real improvement in our school systems or drastic improvement in student’s achievement.
Moreover, according to the article “Here’s why schools need standardized testing” by Norman R. Augustine, in math and science, American is ranked 52nd worldwide and to address this problem the National Governor's Association with the help of the Council of Chief State School Officers, created a set of new tests. Not only do our school system need to keep giving out the test but, it seem like there will be a whole new set of test to try to improve America in the international ladder of science and math. These new set of exams will not only help establish the students of this nation, but also to show what other counties academics knowledge are at, when they are at the same level. At this point it does make a lot of scene to preserve the test and try to educate the students better so we would not be placed so low in rankings. As one of the richest nations in the world it is unacceptable to be near the bottom of on the international
Kohn, Alfie. The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann 2000.
The use of standardized testing in public schools was mandated in 2001 by George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act and is supported by the Obama administration. In recent years, it has triggered an expanding controversy against standardized tests and the use of students' scores to evaluate teachers, schools, districts, and states. Some individuals argue that standardized testing benefits students, teachers, and schools by ensuring that they are held accountable. The truth is standardized testing does not accurately reflect student’s abilities and is potentially hurting today’s students.
Walberg, Herbert J. “Standardized Tests Effectively Measure Student Achievement.” Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. of “Stop the War Against Standardized Tests.” Defining Ideas: A Hoover Institution Journal. (20 May 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 March 2014.
Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.