Sir Ken Robinson: “We need the education system to be transformed not reformed!”
President Obama: “At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world, but none of it will matter unless we all do our part and take care of our responsibilities and put in the hard work that it takes to succeed.”
Students: “Why do we have to take a standardized test to prove our skill level? Why can’t there be more options to demonstrating objectives learned?”
President Obama: “It is the students’ responsibility to complete class assignments, which will help them to determine which direction they would like to go in life. No matter what you want to do in life, you are going to need a school education. You have got to train
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We are bringing in more digital learning and investing more into the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) program. In order for students to succeed in the market place in the future, they will have to be able to think creatively, network as well as work with a team, and machines to figure out how they work in order to complete their job assignments.” https://youtu.be/dqHz33Q9XC4
Texas Education Agency: “The test is accurate! If you feel that it is not, you may resubmit tests for rescoring.”
Administrators: “We have paid to have some tests resubmitted and rescored, in order to figure out what was going on. We found that the State of Texas places lots of focus on this test and it has many flaws.”
Teachers: “Why do we have to spend the majority of our time preparing students to pass only one test (STAAR)? There are a lot of other skills that students will need to know before they leave my classroom.”
Students: “Every year, I do well in school, but I get low test scores on the STAAR exam. This makes me feel like I am getting punched in the
In the speech, “America’s Schoolchildren”, President Barack Obama uses Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in an effective manner to support his claim that every student should have an active role in the responsibility of their education. First and foremost, President Obama begins his speech with an anecdote from his life, “I get it. I know what it’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us the things that other kids had” (Obama 72). In his statement, he give us a personal story from when he lived in Indonesia, that he too went through hardships of having his father leave his family when he was two, not always
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.
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.
...achieving high scores on standardized tests” (Solley).Because of this, teachers take more time to teach test preparation skills than valuable information (Neill, 165). Although standardized tests have been trusted for years to assess the progress of students, there is little evidence that they measure progress accurately.
Forty-two states have adopted Common Core State Standards. These standards were created to focus only on English and Mathematics. In effect of states adopting Common Core Standards, all other subjects taught in school seemed less important. History and Science standards are no longer stressed. Students are limited to being proficient in only two subjects. The Common Core deprives students’ ability to be skilled in multiple areas. These standards do not provide a slight “break” from the challenging fast past teaching of English and Mathematics. In addition to limiting education to English and Mathematics, Jill Bowden explains that the Common Core is affecting kindergarteners by taking “away from materials that encourage playful learning.” (36).
Standardized testing in Texas public schools has parents and teachers furious. It is an argument of Texas Legislature versus those who oppose. Student will take about 17 of these tests before entering high school (Smith A17A). Texas schools are currently conflicted with taking the STAAR tests as it brings upon many arguments. The disadvantages seem to rule out the few advantages test makers tried to pass. Rather than helping students see where they stand, it makes students feel as if they do not stand a chance.
...te our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own” (Obama). He goes on to encourage high schools to include programs that ensure high school graduates receive a “high school diploma and an associate’s degree in computers or engineering” (Obama). This would prepare the graduate for a good job straight out of high school, which is tempting to those who cannot afford a higher education.
Even with material being taught incessantly, standardized tests can not accurately measure a student’s ability. The tests are “single-target—meaning that every student, no matter what level of achievement or ability, course selection, or cu...
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.
Today, schools are making it a priority for teachers to follow the strict guidelines of a “one size fits all testing curriculum.” Educators must prepare students for the tests that could make or break their future. This curriculum is focused only on teaching students what they need to know in order to pass the test. “Because the test is based largely on the memorization of facts, teachers will have to teach their students these specific facts instead of teaching for deep comprehension and understanding of material.” (Martin, 309) As a result, students do not learn the true lesson. Although it is highly important that students pass “the test,” this strictly based curriculum is ignoring the important academic skills and fundamentals needed for their future, even beyond the years of high stakes testing; without these needed skills students will be left in the dark once they have graduated from high school. Students often learn on different levels and their educational requirements are not being met with the “one size fits all” approach. Those who create these tests tend not to include those who learn on a different educational level; rather their focus is pointed towards the money rather than on the success of all students. Children need to learn sk...
It is about that time for families to start sending their children to school. The first thing that crosses their mind is “I hope my child gets the best education I can give them.” These parents want their children to excel in their math classes, pass that test in science class, and they want them to be the best they can be. These families want the teacher to give their child the best education that they can offer. So what if the best way that teachers could give the best education to that child was to have a class size reduction? What if the smaller the class, the more that child could achieve? That teacher would be able to focus on any
Standardized testing is not an effective way to test the skills and abilities of today’s students. Standardized tests do not reveal what a student actually understands and learns, but instead only prove how well a student can do on a generic test. Schools have an obligation to prepare students for life, and with the power standardized tests have today, students are being cheated out of a proper, valuable education and forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure to succeed are being devoted to standardized tests. Standardized testing, as it is being used presently, is a flawed way of testing the skills of today’s 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.
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.
Standardized tests are used to evaluate a student’s performance, however, tests do not take external factors into account. This already means that tests are often inaccurate methods of measuring a students academic potential. Also, the tests do a disservice to students as they evaluate their proficiency at a time of testing, rather than their growth and improvement over the course of the year. The tests have become an outdated method of challenging students and only have negative impacts at this point. The tests develop high levels of stress in students, which is not healthy for an individual during the most important development years of their lives. Eliminating these tests will assist students in the long run as they can accommodate more time towards learning information rather than stressing over a single test. By replacing tests with more in-class lessons students will be free of constant stress and still learn the curriculum. Research shows that students are unable to remember information on standardized tests in the long run, therefore, by spending more time learning and understanding information, students are able to have a better understanding of topics. Therefore, by removing standardized tests students will be provided with a better, more effective, and fair educational