The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or S.T.A.A.R. is a test required by the state that students have to take in grades 3 through 8 and are required to take 5 in high school. This test is unfair to the school districts, teachers, and students.
First of all, the students are required to be in their seats at all times and are not allowed to do anything but test, read, or sleep. This test is treated very confidentially and the price to pay is high if a student were to do one thing wrong. In high school this is not such a big deal however in smaller grades such as 3rd, 4th, or 5th. These children should not be expected to sit and wait for four hours.
Second of all it is unfair for the teachers because if a student does not
pass their class it reflects on their teaching ability. Teachers are required to continuously monitor the students taking the test and even record the time it takes for them to go to the bathroom. (Rumsey) The teachers are not allowed to do anything but to walk and monitor the students. Another issue of the S.T.A.A.R is the fact that it undermines the control of the school district.(Barry,Karen) It has always been the school district’s decision if a student were to fail or pass and the S.T.A.A.R. test rules states that if a student is not able to pass the 4 hour timed test, they can not continue to the next grade regardless of any school merits or successes. With all these faults with the S.T.A.A.R., it should be abolished. The school districts should have the power to decide if the students pass or fail by the grades they get in class. The S.T.A.A.R. in addition for complying to the law the purpose was to help our students become more academic. However this goal has not been met.
Every year students in each grade level are required to take standardized testing to determine their level of competency in the course. The schools use it as a tool for passing students to the next grade level and ensuring they have been taught adequately. The Texas Education Agency or TEA supplies and monitors these tests given to students each year. According to the results received this past year, in 2013, 35 schools out of 456 campuses in Texas performed poorly on the STAAR test. The 35 campuses belongs to Dallas Independent School District which is 8% of the total and more than half of Houston’s sc...
The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, otherwise known as the TAKS, is a standardized test used throughout the state of Texas to determine whether or not a student is prepared for the next grade level. The TAKS test was implemented in 2003 to replace the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills in concurrence with the “No Child Left Behind Act”. The new test added science and social studies portions to the already existing sections of math, reading, and English. The purpose of this was to obtain more information on where students are academically. However, since its inception, the test has been criticized for numerous reasons. The TAKS test has become ineffective in several capacities and has been used to determine teacher bonuses and assessment of how well a teacher is communicating, evaluations that it was not originally intended to decide. When taking into account all of these points of view, I have come to the conclusion that the TAKS test should no longer be used in its present function.
Since this test has been devised, the number one question everybody is asking is, “ isn’t it unfair to base a student’s entire future on one test, when he or she simply could have had a bad day when taking the test”? The president Kirk T. Schroder of the Virginia Board of Education, answer this question by saying, “First of all, these tests are untimed, so no student is under arbitrary time pressure in taking the test.
Today students go to school from K-12 earning their education and take a standardized test during their junior or senior years (sometimes sophomore year). The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and other standardized test are used by colleges across the world to determine if a student is ready for college. As a result, there are some individuals that disagree with the use of standardized testi...
Almost every person who has graduated from high school has taken the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), which is generally used for college admissions. We all remember the stress of taking a test that could affect our future educational plans. Now due to the “No Child Left Behind Act” of 2001, this kind of test is now being administered to children from the 3rd to 8th grades as a way to determine if the school or teachers are educating them properly. High-stakes standardized tests of this nature should not be used to determine the educational abilities of either schools or the teachers.
Now everything has been done to these tests in attempt to make them more tolerable; they’ve been taken, skipped, enforced, cheated on, changed, taught, even puked on enough that there is now a procedure in almost every test administrator’s instruction manual on what to do if a student were to puke on his or her
The educational system must keep a certain number of children in schools at all costs. Sometimes the system is not concerned with the performance of the students as long as they are in school. If teachers graded the way they should, the failure rates would be much higher than they are today.
This results in adolescents to fear to go to that class and be uncomfortable in the class when they are resulting and anxiety based children with grades that reflect it. Not only does forcing each individual to participate in class forces everyone to conform into the same confident individual but it makes the shyer students feel as if they are not as good as the confident students. Another example of how school 's guidelines force individuals to conform in to the "perfect" citizen is from them to respect the teacher 's position as leader in the classroom. The word leader is a harsh word to use about a teacher. It makes it seem as if the students are have no say in the way they should be taught, which is nearly always the case, when in reality it should almost be the opposite. While yes they teachers should be respected by their students they should not have total control over how the students learn. For instance, some students need visual effects to learn something new where others just need it explained to them once. But, in our schools systems students are being forced to learn the way the teacher feels like teaching, even if that form of teaching does not work for that individual. This
Standardized testing is obviously trash! Especially if you are a student or teacher who is forced to sit there for four hours! What makes this worse is the fact that you can not talk, draw, or do anything productive. So are these mandatory silence hours even helpful to the education of children or are we just wasting our time.
ST (standerdized Tests) Are something every kid in the country Has to do every year. They are supposed to measure how well were doing in school and if we can pass that grade. These test are not accurate in the slightest and we really shouldn't do them heres why.
According to the NCES, nationwide, thirty to sixty percent of college freshmen require remedial courses in order to meet college admission requirements (2004). In Texas, 38 percent of Texas students enrolled in two-year colleges and technical schools and 24 percent of students at four-year public institutions took remedial courses during the 2006 academic year (Terry 2007). Twenty-eight percent of colleges in the United States report that students spend at least one year in remedial programs making it impossible to earn a degree in 2 or 4 years (NCES, 2003). These students have graduated from high school unprepared for participation in college courses. Unprepared student face both academic and financial barriers. Not preparing students for coursework and careers after high school is expensive. Remedial education courses are estimated to cost student one billion dollars annually. In addition, according to the ACT, despite participating in remedial classes, students who require remedial classes are significantly less likely to graduate from college (2005).
Determining college readiness is an essential part in determining who will qualify as a good candidate for admission into a college or a university. The last thing that colleges want is for students to qualify for admission and drop out, this affects drop out rate and graduation rate. According Robin Chait and Andrea Venezia (2009),
teachers are just as ignorant as the student. Give a teacher the same test and
When it comes to test taking, some students do not know how to remain calm. Many times when students fail a test it was not because they did not understand the material on the test, it is because students do not contain good test taking skills. Taking a test can be very nerve wrecking and uncomfortable. A student from Paris (texas) High School said, "some people get testaphobia, I passed my math classes with flying colors, but I get to that TAAS test and my mind's like a blank, I have no idea why." (Kunen 62). TExas is one of the 22 states that requires a high school exit exam like the TAAS test.
Being a successful student and achieving continued academic success is fundamental in order to complete an associate degree and become a successful professional. College is challenging, but it can be a rewarding growth experience and easier when setting up goals. Having educational and career goals helps students keep the focus and motivation. Besides, having knowledge of different learning styles can help students learn about themselves and increase efficiency while studying. Writing skills learned in college are also a powerful tool for both academic and career success. The campus is a great place to find tools to succeed and achieve continued academic success. It is also important to keep academic honesty as a good habit and as a value of integrity throughout college and later on in the professional environment.