Additive Schooling in Subtractive Times has proven to be a very intriguing reading for me, triggering a lot of different memories of my own education in terms of diversity. In chapter 8 The Political Economy of Education where the author discussed a study conducted at Luperon, where 20 students observed and interviewed. Of those students 4 (20%) students dropped out, with the sample size reflecting general trends among newcomer students who leave school. A significant portion of the students who dropped out during the study ended up dropping out for reasons related to high stakes testing.
Of the 4 students who dropped out of Luperon, two of the students left school because of pressures related to Regent Examinations. One of the students Salvador dropped out after failing on Regent examination and the other Juan completed all but one of the required Regent Examinations, he ended up dropping out when he failed it twice. Its interesting to see the severe impact that high stakes testing can have on immigrant students leading to higher high school dropout rates. Personally I believe that the pressures of high stakes testing affects
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The pressure that teachers put on high stakes testing not only created an uncomfortable learning environment but ended up leading to a unproductive learning experience. I still remember taking my Math and Science Regents exams and the pressures that came along with them. I was always a poor student when it came those subjects, I remember barely passing the Math Regents Exam. If you are student struggling going into preparing for one of these exams the experience can be very dejecting. The pressures I faced are similar to those of newcomer students to some extent in that the pressures of standardized testing were unnecessary and most likely negatively impacted my opportunity to strive to better my education in that subject
Many Americans do not question the credibility of the education system within the country because they believe it forms good citizens and creates a stepping-stone to success. John Taylor Gatto is an American teacher who has experience in the classroom for thirty years and has now devoted his life to critiquing American schools exploiting his own experiences. In his essay “Against School”, he argues that the 12-year system of school may not be necessary, due to its curriculum, and that it may be a tactic of manipulation from the government to promote obedience. I agree with his argument because there are many paths to individual success outside of public education, such as homeschooling or vocational school.
The documentary “Dropout Nation” shows how difficult it is for students who live in poorer communities to receive a good education and graduate high school. Students and teachers are interviewed in this documentary to show that these students are intelligent but are not able to graduate due to their circumstances. These examples help explain the concepts learned in chapter 10 about social institutions and how it is affected by politics, education, and religion.
The reason for high stakes testing in schools was to see where students stood academically. It was made to check on the progress and status of whether teachers and staff were doing their job as they are responsible for a child’s learning. In 2002, George W. Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Act. Each state had to come up with their own testing systems for students to meet certain standards. This was influenced by Red Paige who was superintendent at Houston I.S.D. Accountability was their main goal with this kind of testing. Texas tests are created by Sandy Kress who teamed up with Pearson. The current test outraging the opposed side is the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) test. Kress came up with this test because people felt that the previous TAKS test was not helping students with college readiness. The STAAR test counts towards 15% of a student’s grade (Blakeslee 126). It is a harder test and Texas is a state with the most exit level exams as it is. Even though people disagree with this test even more, Kress and his followers believe that the test is not failing students, but their teachers are. Defenders can be pretty harsh and blunt about why the STAAR should stay. Bill Hammond made a stat...
Testing is a way to measure what students have learned from their teachers. Standardized/High-Stakes testing is a tool used to measure the performance of students and the quality of teachers in public school systems. High-Stakes testing is an inaccurate measuring stick of teaching quality and thus is detrimental to the educational system.
To teach to the test or trust the child; is the question in today’s education. Over the past twenty years state curriculum standards have changed. Teachers need to make the choice on how to teach the children in their classroom. In today’s society where testing runs the educational world, a teacher must decide how to prepare students for standardized testing.
Standardized tests have historically been used as measures of how students are compared with one another or how much of a particular curriculum they have learned throughout the semester or year. Consequently, standardized tests are being used to make major decisions about students, such as grade promotion or high school graduation, and higher education evaluation. Various numbers of students across America have had to repeat classes because of the way standardized tests are used to pass or fail students. Although the tests require students to retain information until the end of the semester, I believe it is wrong to allow just a single test to decide whether an entire semester’s work will be rewarded with the credits that may have been well-earned. Some standardized testing such as the SAT, are not fair to students who may come from a poor educational background and do not retain information as their fellow peers. Students are at a disadvantage if they have test taking anxiety, which is a condition that many students suffer from “a feeling someone might have in a situation where performance really counts or when the pressure's on to do well” (Test Anxiety). Standardized tests give a false pretense of objectivity and consequently of equal opportunity. However, "the only goal of standardized tests is the scoring, which is done by machine" (Facts on Standardized Tests and Assessment Alternatives). It is made clear that the purpose of testing is to provide information to be used in conjunction with, not in pl...
Standardized testing assesses students, teachers, and the school itself, which puts a great deal of pressure on the students. High scores show that the school is effective in teaching students, while low test scores make teachers and schools look as though they are not teaching the students properly. This is not always the case. There are teachers who do teach students what they need to know to pass the test, but their students are still unprepared. Although teachers try to improve instruction, student performance is still variable to other factors that the school cannot control.
Standardized Tests restrict student learning in the classroom (Cole, Hulley, and Quarles 17). The teachers in a classroom cannot teach what they would like to teach, but rather they are forced to teach what will be on the test. Often, when teachers teach what will be on the test, many students will begin to zone out and do other things, rather than listen to the teacher drill them with memorization for the tests (Willis 59) Teachers are graded based on how well their students do on these standardized tests, so they will teach only what is going to be on the test, to keep their jobs, or even get raises. Whenever this happens, students are hurt because they lose out on many opportunities to learn, and they even lose critical thinking skills. The testing curriculum often also places too many goals for students and teachers to reach, which will force them to move more quickly and not properly address every topic (Popham 71). Which, in the long run with further encourage only teaching the test, and nothing else.
Standardized testing is something all students fear no matter what grade they are in. Whether they are in elementary school and middle school and have to fear the ELAs or Regents exams, or in high school and fear the SATs, PASTs, APs, ACTs etc. Even with standardized testing being as feared as they are students are still being conformed to take them. There are many ways students are being confirmed to take them, one being that they are impulsed. It 's either a student takes the standardized test or fears that 's they will be left behind. For instance, some colleges will not even accept students if they have no taken SATs. This helps prove the point that each adolescent is taking some sort of standardized test, even if they do not want to. Also, they begin to conform students to take standardized testing as early as kindergraden. Thinking on kindergraden many think about coloring, reading on the big red carpet with the teacher as well as just having fun being a kid. But now even kindergraderners are feeling the wrath of conformity down their necks because of standardized testing. With prep books to help them prepare for the standardized testing they are unable to go outside and play and just be kids because they are inside studying for an exam. (book cover) Furthermore with standardized testing there is also an upwards trend of students being
In 1997, President Bill Clinton stated that the United States needed, “ a national crusade for education standards - not federal government standards, but national standards, representing what all our students must know to succeed in the knowledge economy of the twenty-first century”(http://books.nap.edu/books/0309062802/html/13.html). The way to succeed in this journey is through standardized testing that results in consequences for teachers and students.
High school and college dropout rates are at an all time high. Secondary school students are told throughout high school that if they don’t go to college then they will never be successful. Going to college doesn’t always make a difference because many career choices such as teachers and lawyers are highly contested and result in either no job or low salary. Low pay deters teacher’s motivation and they tend to work part time jobs to supplement their income. Public schools standards are comparable to a kangaroo court’s procedure; private schools are known for better teachers, environment, and test grades. The major problems in the public school system include the lack of funding, lack of resources, and lack of standards.
Akerlof, G. A. and R. E. Kranton. “Identity and Schooling: Some Lessons for the Economics of Education. Journal of Economic Literature. 40.4 (2002): 1167-1201. Print.
Throughout my educational career, I remember taking standardized exams since I was in second grade. My experience with the standardized test was never a pleasant one. At a certain point, I thought that it would hinder me from going on to the next grade, graduating high school and going to a college of my choice. I always felt that standardized test did not measure my actual intelligence and was frustrated with the concept that comparing students to others, by giving all students a basic multiple choice test, is enough to measure how well each child would do throughout the school. After I had started understanding the ranking system, I started doubting my ability to keep up with my peers, not just in my school but the state. The first exam that
Million Dollar Baby directed by Clint Eastwood, is a film exploring how ones success is not guaranteed by victory. Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) struggles to grasp the concept of training an aspiring boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) as he is going through hardships which are setting him back. Clint Eastwood implements the use of cinematography techniques to symbolically convey the true meaning of success where winning is not a measurement, instead the hard work you put in and risking your shot to achieve your dreams. Through viewing Million Dollar Baby, it was evident that Eastwood incorporated the use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to symbolically convey the nature of accomplishment.
It is not about who runs the race the fastest, but who crosses the finish line. While facing many of life’s obstacles some people have ran across this objective, but unfortunately when it comes to the focus of education from Pre-K to 12, the objective does not exist. Modern public school systems have structured their curriculum to fit standards of assessments that affects the continuation of a student to a higher grade as well as the school. The form of test, high-stakes tests plays a vital role in student promotion. Likewise, the school faces consequences for insufficient passing rates.