High stakes exams have taken its toll on the right of education through entrance exams as they do not properly represent a student’s passion or potential skill but rather show a limited glimpse of knowledge. According to Yahoo!’s South East Asia’s Newsroom, “The passing rate in the Bar Examinations dipped below 20 percent for the first time in a decade, showing a double-digit drop from the previous year” (Patria, Kim Arveen) in regards to its most recent law school bar examinations. Allowing for an exam to determine whether or not an aspiring student is eligible to continue into specialty school becomes a barrier to their future. This supports that high stakes testing not only affects young students but is also an existing problem present in college students. Nursing applicants, year after year, do not see their names on the passing boards to become a registered nurse. The ability of how to handle patients and absorb situations calmly are not taught in the books. The best way to get experience would be through working in the field itself and learning how to conduct their job productively and efficiently, but paper testing examinations do not allow students to display that quality. Entrance examinations can change the course of pupils that did not pass by redirecting their life path to settle on vocational courses instead. Not all jobs require book-smart educational products but also require humans that are able to discern and make judgements based on experience and skill. Unfortunately, the chance of passing examinations are not based on interpersonal relationship skills or even applied in the field.
Test validity may be affected by the smallest detail and just one day can cause a student’s test result to be thrown off comple...
... middle of paper ...
...hould not be punished for inaccurate assessments that are given with such high stakes. Teachers just teaching the test in order to carry a school rank will not help students develop their own thoughts and opinions. In the long run, high stakes exams have a negative influence on schools because of their inability to properly produce accurate performance of a student’s intelligence. Many factors can affect the way a student tests and test measurements should be as how Wood stated “to devise tests which look at the individual and find out how well rather than how many” (Danili, Eleni and Reid, Norman). A solution to this problem is to conduct performance-based assessments rather than relying solely on high stakes exams. "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” -Unknown.
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
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.
Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these tests do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a student.
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.
Tests cannot always measure everything that needs to be measured on a course or what a st...
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
... performed that one day. Scores might be different on a different day, a different time, if the student’s mood is good or bad, or is tired.
High stakes testing has taken over every school curriculum from kindergarten through twelfth grade; teachers are often expected to “teach to the test.” Students are suffering due to a strict curriculum that is based solely on passing “the test.” Many wonder if high stakes testing is really worth the many sacrifices students and teachers must make. The high stakes testing curriculum deprives many students of valuable learning opportunities and much needed academic training.
High stakes testing does not accurately determine a student’s intelligence. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences researched the appropriate and inappropriate uses of tests. They agreed that “no single test score can be considered a definitive measure of a student’s knowledge”(http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/news/histakes_test_position_statement.htm).
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...
Stecher, “The net effect of high-stakes testing on policy and practice is uncertain. Researchers have not documented the desirable consequences of testing—providing more instruction, working harder, and working more effectively—as clearly as the undesirable ones—such as negative reallocation, negative alignment of classroom time to emphasize topics covered by a test, excessive coaching, and cheating. More important, researchers have not generally measured the extent or magnitude of the shifts in practice that they identified as a result of high-stakes testing.” Which means that in completion no test is truly valid or reliable for there are too many mistakes to be had by either the test takers or the Test
Before you are even born you have standards that are waiting to be met. You have a due date, your first words, first steps, and many other “first” that are expected of you. Every individual learns to do these things at different times and at different paces. These expectations continue all the way to the class room. Prior to Kindergarten, everyone learns to talk, read, and get potty- trained at different times. However, whenever you enter Kindergarten you are given the kindergarten curriculum because you are five, not necessarily because you are ready for it. Some students may be well pre-prepared in advance for the material and others may need all the help they can get. Therefore, test scores are not a good indication of a school’s competency.
Based on the Programme for International Student Assessment’s 2012 results (PISA), the United States has ranked 30th in comparison to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) participating countries. The United States, a country that has once held the ideal for educational standards, has now ranked just slightly above other countries that are just being developed. By using high-stakes test statistics to drive America’s educational standards, classrooms are beginning to lose their meaning of helping students to learn and grow as individuals. Because of classrooms just teaching the test are beginning to lose the meaning of helping students to learn and grow as individuals, results of high stakes testing which can be affected by the minutest details, are not a reasonable way to judge overall student competency; a better alternative would be by performance based assessments. “Test developers are obliged to create a series of one-size-fits-all assessments. But, as most of us know from attempting to wear one-size-fits-all garments, sometimes one size really can’t fit all.” (Popham, James W.). High stakes tests are not a reasonable way to judge overall student competency because educators can not expect to have accurate and precise results in just one sitting for 12 years of learning. Although tests pose an important role in education, they should not be given such high stakes of determining if a student should be rejected from a college “based solely on the fact that their score wasn’t high enough” (Stake, Robert.).
A well created test can measure learning and diagnose a student’s weakness (Merrow, 4). In testing, the idea is for the student to get the correct answer on information they know and incorrect answers on the information they do not. However, a testing error may occur. A testing error is when a student gets an answer correct of information they did not actually know or an answer incorrect, they may have actually known (Gellman, 30)The people who create these tests want straightforward measures. However, test designers do not design these tests to measure what a student can do academically (Fusaro, 1). Large testing companies produce tests and sell them all over the country. This causes the test to be not specialized for the school or county and students do not do as well as they could have if the test was specialized (Popham, 4).three possible ways of testing a student’s knowledge exists: multiple choices, answer in essay form, or they are asked to perform a task and then graded on the performance (Merrow, 5). Some tests are designed to assess an individual’s performance, like an
As it is, examinations are timed written or oral assessments held at the end of an academic term. It serves to asses a student’s knowledge and comprehension of all the subjects he has studied over the course of the term. Rather than tracking a student’s progress over the course of the term, it judges his/her ability over a handful of written or oral pieces. This is obviously not an accurate indication of one’s progress. Take for example the case of an intelligent and dexterous student who never fails to impress teachers and peers alike in his daily homework and assignments, but fell miserably short of the marks when it comes to the examinations, due to unforeseen circumstances that are not within his influence. These so-called “unforeseen circumstances” might be familial problems t...