No one enjoys taking tests, but they help us to recall what we have or have not learned, and they help us to see where we need more practice. If a student does poorly, should they be allowed a retest? Do retests allow kids to push the test off, and not prepare adequately? Do retest offer any benefits? Does allowing retests put students behind in college readiness? Teachers must be able to prepare each and every student well enough so that they can take the test and remember what has been taught with ease. Students also must be willing to put in the required work, and must be responsible enough to prepare ahead of time. If teachers and administrators allow students to retake these assessments, then we are devaluing the students grade, because there has been a lack of effort introduced to the equation. …show more content…
Today, there are many views and opinions going around regarding whether or not students should be able to retake tests.
Many say students should be able to retake tests because, “everyone has a bad day every now and then”, or maybe the student did not quite get it, and offering a retake gives the student time to prepare and improve on the next assessment. Many people often think that when a teacher allows a student to retake a test that it can ultimately defeat the purpose of having a test. According to http://teaching.monster.com/training/articles/956-test-retakes-may-help-students-succeed, retakes should be offered to people who made a C or lower on the test that they wish to retake. On the other hand, some compare retaking tests to showing up late on a date, having poor quality work, or crossing the road without looking. For
all these things just listed, the person has put in the required work before participating in the activity. If someone shows up late to work, or crosses the road without looking, you do not get a second chance, and some teachers have this mindset when it comes to retaking tests. These teachers feel that if students do not get it on the first go round, they do not get a second chance. These teachers feel that if they are “tough” on the students now, then they will save the students from suffering later in life. It is believed that if the teachers are able to show their students the proper skills, and technique that there will be no need for a retest. The teachers realize that there will not always be success, but it often takes failure before we learn from what we have done wrong. If students learn the proper technique while in high school, they will be able to implement these skills when they enter the real world that has no re-do’s or retakes. (https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2018/03/21/why-i-give-students-only-one-chance.html). In some cases where kids have the opportunity to retake things, they end up pushing the test off, because they know if they do poorly, that there will be a second chance to make it right. Students know that they can push it off, and wait until the last minute to prepare for the retest. If a student is offered a retest, they take it as an opportunity to slack off, and simply memorize the information long enough to pass the assessment. Teachers do not want their students to simply memorize their material long enough to pass the test, however they want their students to be able to apply and implement what they have learned into real life. As said in an article by (Delvallé, Baptiste. “Why I Give Students Only One Chance on Tests.” Teacher Teacher, 27 Mar. 2018, www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2018/03/21/why-i-give-students-only-one-chance.html.), it does not matter if students remember how to do a specific thing, or make a C or D in the class. What matters is that students that made a D in the first semester, are able to learn from their mistakes, and improve by the time second semester comes. If retakes are not offered, and the student makes a grade that is unsatisfactory, they know that more work must be put in to pass the class. At the start of the class, the students did not know how to get A’s and B’s. The students had to learn that hard work was necessary to get through the class. Typically in a class room setting, the things that students learn in the beginning of the year are often carried over or build on themselves in the end. After doing my research, I can not help to think about the causes of offering retakes to students. What does offering retakes teach children about responsibility? What does this teach about being prepared? What does this teach about ownership? If a student does not agree with a grade, and a retake is offered, what is the motivation to put in hard work? Where is the driving force for improvement? In my research, I also found that teachers can be failing kids by allowing them to pass. You may be confused by this statement, and may think that it is far from the truth, however when a student is given ample opportunity to retake a test and get a better grade, they take advantage of the situation and study simply with one objective in mind, and that is to memorize the bare minimum, and if they do not pass, no worries, there is always a retake. As stated earlier, if a student relies on a retake in order to pass the class, there is no comprehension of the material. There is no real world application. The definition of the word learn is, gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in something by study, experience, or being taught. Another definition of the world learn is, to commit to memory. The word learning is synonymous with the words absorb, digest, master. By the definition of the word learn alone, we see that mastery is apart of the learning process. As Rick Wormeli describes in his book, Fair isn’t always equal, teachers and students must begin with an end goal in mind. In order to do well, and avoid having to offer retakes, a student must be willing to do their best at all costs. A student must be willing to put in the extra work to study the material, and to seek out extra help if they know that they are struggling. In high school (typically where retakes are offered), the teachers sole purpose is to prepare you for college. In the process of preparing for college, there will be hard work, and there will be learning, but endurance is key. If a student wants to make it through college and in the real world, hard work is a must, and retakes are not an option in life. We must learn from our mistakes, and accept that the situation we are put in will not always be easy to overcome. As a person success is not determined by the mistakes we make, success is determined by what we choose to do after making those mistakes. Winston Churchill once said, "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."
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.
Pressure is being exerted on students to pass, and teachers to enable their students to pass the standardized tests being presented to them. This takes much classroom time that could be spent instructing students on what might be more valuable information, and instead study for the test by what some consider rote memorization (Silva). Experiments have been done seeing how much different teaching approaches were before and after the implementation of standardized testing (Desimone). These experiments demonstrated how vastly the difference between teaching to the test and teaching what the instructor believes is the most valuable knowledge and the best way to present this knowledge. If there is a disconnect between what America’s teachers believe is best to know, and what is on the examinations, then one of the two is flawed, and it is not likely to be what the teachers are teaching.
Despite the view that there is too much standardized testing, a majority of respondents said parents should not excuse their children from tests. A majority also said they think test scores are "somewhat important" in judging the effectiveness of their local schools.
One time I heard a teacher at my old high school tell a new teacher that their job is to teach to the test and nothing else. I did not really know what she meant, but I knew something about what she said sounded very wrong. I thought why are they just teaching us how to pass the test instead of just teaching us what we need to know? Later I found out that whether or not I graduate depends on passing the test. The idea of standardized testing to say whether or not students graduate is a bad one. Not just bad for schools, principals, and teachers, but it can mean the end of a student’s future before it begins. That means not only does schools suffer, but everyone in our communities, states, and country suffers. It used to be that students had to take standardized tests every year. The results of these tests said what school districts would get more money or less money for the next school year. And it would also tell schools and teachers if some students needed to be put into higher level programs such as gifted and talented or advanced placement courses or if they were having problems and should be put in special education.
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.
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...
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.
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
According to Fyona Rose, “Not only do these tests belittle students' and teachers' hard work, they also leave them with negative feelings toward school and drain their love of learning” (Rose, 2015). This means that standardized testing can ruin the enjoyment of learning for both students and teachers. The reason standardized testing still happens is because it has become a standard for schools each year. But if the standard is bad something should be changed. Many who do not like standardized testing to do not believe that testing should be done away with, but rather be changed to accommodate the growing needs of society as a
This argument goes along with the other two mentioned and explained above. There isn’t much that is positive to say about these assessments. It places so much pressure on students to perform well and pressure on teachers to teach what is going to be on the test. This brings negative energy to classrooms. An article by Greg Jouriles helps explain why we don’t need these tests. He claims, “Standardized tests are unnecessary because they rarely show what we don’t already know” (Jouriles, Greg). He also goes on to explain that one’s test score isn’t reliable and that we should trust the teachers when grades are published. A school system can accurately judge the students in the school on what they are good at better than the standardized tests do. They can break down many different aspects of what students need to improve on and what they are already knowledgeable of. Students need to learn more than just the test information. Only studying and learning test material makes students less diverse and leads to boring lectures in the classroom. Another article written by an organization called Fairtest adds, “Some students simply do not test well. Many students are affected by test anxiety or do not show their learning well on a standardized test, resulting in inaccurately lower scores” (Fairtest). These tests punish students for what they can’t control, making them stressed and panicked that they won’t graduate or move on to the next grade. Some children are from low-income families attending schools with large classes with little to no materials for learning what is on the test. In addition to that, some teachers have never been educated on test content, which is not their fault, and this results in low-test scores. This all leads to why there are such negative feelings throughout classrooms of many
Sure, for some students, the testing may seem like a good idea, for their scores may be high, but for other students, why should they have a low score on the test when they score high on all other assignments? There are many people who get nervous during testing, and will begin to lose confidence. Therefore, they are most of the time unable to score a decent
Lastly, standardized testing is stressful for students, teachers, parents, and schools. Some students are very intelligent, but the test makes them nervous, so they do poorly. When the kids get stressed, the schools cheat on the scores because the school’s funding is tied to their test scores. One principal and a few teachers from one school were fired and sent to jail because of a scam they pulled involving tests. Why would you want a test that encourages cheating? Standardized tests need be less stressful.
These standardized tests put an enormous amount of stress upon students. As said by Roberta Munoz, testing can prevent a student from receiving a high school diploma, or "force [a] fourth grader to repeat
Testing is one of the big issues in our education system. The idea that the whole school curriculum should be planned around tests is a foolish one, if we want to get a quality education that we can actually learn something valuable from. Having students cram empty facts and memorize test answers is not teaching them it is just encouraging more stress and late nights. On some occasions, tests are a necessary evil to see if the student has actually learned anything from what they have been taught, but to gear the whole class a...
Examinations, as we know it, have emerged to be the main facet of modern education in the ever-changing landscape of academia. In an education infrastructure that is as unpredictable as the clouds, it is somewhat ironic that the system of examinations as a means of judging a student’s ability has prevailed through the years. Every person, in their quest for knowledge, would inevitably encounter numerous modes of examinations throughout the course of their academic journey. As much importance has been attached to it in virtually every academic institutions across the globe, the voices of those who lobby for its eradication are seldom heard, let alone be considered seriously. There are various reasons for policymakers to initiate a rethink of the much-vaunted examination system. I am of the opinion that the time has come for us to abolish this system, a system which has come under fire from multiple sections of the community, particularly the students.