Possible contentions:
help teachers realize student’s strengths and weaknesses
standardized tests have a quality assurance informal tests do not
show effectiveness of teacher
cost effective, around $6 per student
We affirm the resolution, “On balance, standardized testing is beneficial to K-12 education in the United States.”
Definitions: “On balance” - with all things considered (Oxford English dictionary). This definition means that in order for the Pro to win, it only needs to prove that standardized testing’s benefits outweigh its drawbacks.
“Standardized testing” - In this case, we refer to standardized testing as “high stakes testing”. This applies to tests such as the SAT, ACT, and STAAR tests in Texas, and this debate should not
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refer to classroom tests or quizzes that are still the same for everyone. Contention 1: Standardized Tests Help Teachers “The benefits of regular standardized education in childhood education” Gavin T. Brown, University of Auckland; John Hattie, University of Melbourne Standardized tests help teachers understand a student’s strengths and weaknesses. Ideally, standardized assessments help inform students how good they are (i.e.
their strengths and gaps), what they may still need to learn, and such tests should aim to motivate students to greater effort. However, student self-reported grades obtained before assessments are highly correlated with actual achievement; in other words, when a child is asked to predict their own performance before sitting a test they are often very accurate (Hattie, 2009, pp. 43–44). So the question of why we would need to bother administering such tests is worth asking. One problem is that this high relationship applies less to minority students, who tend to be more inaccurate in their estimates of ability. For example, Maori and Pasifika students in New Zealand are generally two years behind majority ethnicity students; however, in a national survey of academic achievement the correlation of their self-rated ability and their performance in writing and mathematics was statistically non-significant while it was statistically significant or the majority students (’Otunuku and Brown, 2007). Thus, if we are to take advantage of student self-awareness, it is vital that students gain an accurate understanding of their …show more content…
ability. Contention 2: Quality Assurance Standardized tests have a quality assurance that informal tests do not. Another reason to make use o standardized tests over less formal assessments is the quality assurance processes used to develop standardized tests.
High-quality standardized tests typically are developed in such a way that the users can have confidence that the tasks are well written, the answers are correct, the tasks cover the learning objectives of the domain in a valid and balanced fashion, the appropriateness of the material has been trialled on representative samples of children, the relative di culty of tasks has beenestablished through sophisticated statistical modelling, the possibility of bias or insensitivityin the tasks has been addressed, and the degree of accuracy or reliability in awarding scoreshas been estimated. In other words, while there is no perfectly accuratetest score, teachers, students, and parents can have confdence in the quality and accuracyo a standardized test. There has been a large corpus o studies, manuals, standards, andother resources dedicated to these processes or developing and deending standardizedtests.This stands in stark contrast to what we know about the accuracy o teacher or marker judgements based on inormal or non-standardized tests. For example, whenscoring essays, markers are notoriously unreliable in their judgements (Brennan, 1996;Brown, 2009b) and thus systematic and oten standardized processes are needed tocalibrate and control teacher judgments (e.g. the development o standardized essayscoring rubrics). While we cannot
estimate readily the amount o error in a teacher’s“on-the-y” or “in-the-moment” evaluations, we know that there is inaccuracy inevery judgement (Haertel, 2006). Humans can introduce error into scores o The benefts o regular standardized assessment in childhood education 289 perormances (e.g. essays, portolios, and dramatic or spoken perormance) through anumber o biases, including a tendency to inate scores or a number o reasons, suchas believing moderate grades do not reect the quality o the instruction or students, atendency to be a harsh or tough marker (or conversely to be a lenient or sot marker),a tendency to be inconsistent, perhaps through inattention or atigue, and a tendency to judge the learner rather than the perormance itsel (Hoyt, 2000; Lane and Stone, 2006).Indeed, careul study o rater inaccuracy or disagreement is undertaken in large-scalestandardized testing o perormance assessments in order to establish the limits o validityand credibility o assessment decisions (Haertel, 2006; Lane and Stone, 2006). This iswhy rubrics, marker panels, and multiple tasks are among the tools needed to ensurethat there is quality in teacher assessment. Indeed, given the potential or inaccuracy inhuman estimation o perormance, it is no wonder that the eect o non-test ormativeassessment practices is relatively low Contention 3: Cost Effective Standardized tests are very cost effective in showing a student’s abilities. Support Articles: http://www.academia.edu/1964802/The_benefits_of_regular_standardized_assessment_in_childhood_education_Guiding_improved_instruction_and_learning http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-submission/2011/08/01/stop-war-against-standardized-tests
Current educational policy and practice asserts that increased standardized student testing is the key to improving student learning and is the most appropriate means for holding individual schools and teachers accountable for student learning. Instead, it has become a tool solely for summarizing what students have learned and for ranking students and schools. The problem is standardized tests cannot provide the information about student achievement that teachers and students need day-to-day. Classroom assessment can provide this kind of information.
Parents and advocates of education can all agree that they want their students to be in the best hands possible in regards to education. They want the best teachers, staffs, and schools to ensure their student’s success. By looking at the score results from standardized testing, teachers can evaluate effectively they are doing their job. On the other side, a proponent for eliminating standardized testing would argue that not all students care passionately about their education and will likely not perform to expectations on the test. However, receiving the numerical data back, teachers can construe the student’s performances and eliminate the outliers of the negligent kids. Teachers can then look at the individual scores and assign those outliers to get the help they need in school. This helps every student getting an equal chance at education. Overall, taking a practice standardized test can let a teacher look at individual questions and scores and interpret what they need to spend more time on teaching. A school also can reap the benefits from standard testing to ensure they are providing the best possible education they can. The school can look at the average scores from a group and hold the teacher accountable for the student’s results on the test. The school can then determine the best course of action to pursuit regarding the teacher’s career at the school. By offering teachers and schools the opportunity to grow and prosper, standardized testing is a benefit for the entire education
Miltich, Matthew. "Standardized Testing and Assessment Do Not Improve Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 151-54. Print.
“Students are taking between ten and twenty standardized tests, depending on the grade. A total average of one hundred thirteen different ones by graduation.”(Locker) A few years ago the United States, along with other nations, was given a test to assess the academic strengths and weaknesses of each nation and rank them accordingly. When the results were released and the United States was ranked near the bottom, it was decided to start incorporating more testing through school. Between benchmark, TLI, PARCC, and common core standards, teaching technique was forced to change. Standardized testing has had a negative effect on teachers and students, implementing inadequate grading standards and the common core curriculum, such testing has made
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...
It is hard to say whether these tests are efficient in assessing a student’s knowledge. There have been studies done that shows how students perform contributes to a number of factors. Students are individuals just as adults and can easily slip up on a test, just as many adults have done because of numerous reasons. They suffer from stress, lack of sleep, how they are feeling, whether they ate, and many other reasons. “These influences most dramatically affect low-income students and students of color” (French, 2003). From the rise of immigration there have been tests (IQ and Stanford-Binet) that were used to sort and track students based on race and income. According to a study it has been concluded that these tests will continue to hinder the ability of Black and Latino students to graduate from high school (Orfield and Wald, 2000; Haney, 1999; McNeil, 2000).
Standardized testing is not the best way to measure how well a teacher teaches or how much a student has learned. Schools throughout the United States put their main focus on standardized tests; these examinations put too much pressure on the teachers and students and cause traumatizing events. Standardized testing puts strain on teachers and students causing unhealthy occurrences, Common Core is thrown at teachers with no teaching on how to teach the new way which dampers testing scores for all students, and the American College Test determines whether a child gets into college or not based on what they have learned during high school. Standardized tests are disagreeable; tests should not determine ranking of people.
Although there have been legitimate arguments supporting the benefits of standardized testing, such as their ability to successfully measure students’ proficiency, in recent years there have been concerns and disadvantages regarding how their misuse poses a serious threat to the American education system. Despite the belief that standardized tests should be used to measure students’ proficiency, there are more reasons outweighing this statement regarding why they shouldn’t be used for this purpose. Not only is this a particular issue with standardized testing, but the tests are becoming more high stakes and are being used unfairly to determine things such as graduation, or placement in a school, resulting in a significant amount of stress and anxiety in students. Testing corporations are also profiting from the design of these standardized tests, while standardized testing is also forcing teachers to all teach the same thing, leading to a lack of creativity in the students. Aside from these arguments, standardized tests have been found to be becoming flawed and have poor design.
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.
It is not in America’s best interest to pass the proposal to require standardized testing at elementary school levels, or to force students to pass exit exams to earn their diplomas. If we wish for our children to be informed and educated, and ready to survive on their own in the real world, we need to give them the tools that will get them there. These tests are not accurate, and they are detrimental to the education of children. There should be no debate over how our representatives in Congress should vote on this bill.
Standardized tests are a tremendous part of most schools’ curriculum in the United States today. These tests are assessments of students’ knowledge on either one or more subjects. Standardized tests are a performance evaluation of students, teachers, and schools due to their importance. A standardized test is distinctive from other tests in two ways. One, it has common questions being answered in the same way and two, it is being scored in a consistent style allowing for comparative performance. Through extensive research Oliver’s and Visone’s statements and overall research have several key differences that shape their own separate arguments. Though their thesis and hypothesis have the same underlying idea that there is a problem with` standardized
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.
Standardized testing remains to be a major controversial issue for the American society today. Exams are given to students at different levels in their educational career and are supposed to measure their academic knowledge, but are these tests really the best way to evaluate students? There have been numerous alternatives suggested to replace or be used in conjunction with standardized testing.
“If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that.” This quote by Michelle Obama illustrates the idea that standardized testing should not have such a large influence on education in America. However, a majority of people are under the impression that standardized tests are an accurate method to measure a person's intellectual ability. I believe that standardized tests have developed into a very critical part of the American education system that is hindering the growth of students and teachers instead of providing a tool that can accurately measure knowledge.
...aring in mind the information said, it is now safe to say that the standardized testing process is to a large extent unnecessary on estimating a child’s cerebral capability because their attention is too much on the child’s performance on that day as an alternative to their progress throughout the year and they don’t anticipate the child’s personality and other qualities besides their academic knowledge. On the other hand, standardized tests can be to a small extent necessary because it helps teachers lend a helping hand to students so they can ameliorate their knowledge. Considering all that’s been said, standardized testing after all is not the solution. We must teach kids how to think outside the box, not how to fill in test circles. It is now time to create a new testing method that is proven equitable and most importantly, beneficial to a child’s education.