You walk into school and you’re calm and relaxed feeling okay and ready to do the work in school. Once you walk into your english class you find out the class has to take a test, multiple choice and a few short answers. Once you hear that, your heart starts racing, you get shaky and you’re nervous. You suddenly forget everything you’ve known on the topic that the standardized test is on. You sit in your seat, waiting for the test to be handed to you, thinking if it’ll be too difficult or a piece of cake. Your teacher hands out the tests to the class and announces: “Okay everyone! This test is counted as a big grade and will let me know if you’ve been paying attention all these months. Do your best! You may begin.” The moment that is said you hope to do well so that you won’t fail and are more nervous than you were when you first started, and that’s how you begin and end your test. …show more content…
Once I hear my teacher say that we're taking a quiz or test or some sort of assessment I begin to lack concentration and get extremely shaky and at loss of the topic. I'm suddenly not able to focus on the test and instead think of the fact that if I fail the assessment, it will bring down my grade drastically. I am afraid that doing poorly on the test will tell my teacher that I haven't been paying attention in class and do not understand the learning targets. The truth is I have been paying attention. I do know the learning targets, but taking a standardized test is not a way I can show that. The work I do in class and how I work with others and help them REALLY defines what I know. But in school for us students, these standardized assessments are such a big part of our grade, that passing or failing a course can be determined by how well we do on these assessments. They are an incomplete measurement of our intelligence and our
“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
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...
Garcia-Pelayo2students, one can find oneself surprised when we learn that each state spends roughly “$1.7billion a year” (Ujifusa 1) on standardized testing. Money for standardized testing if being spentbefore students even set their eyes on a college application, and definitely before they start fillingout their applications. Standardized tests are expensive, and usually required too. Unless astudent knows for sure that the school they’re applying to, and getting accepted to, does notrequire standardized tests, spending those $65 dollars is almost inevitable. What most studentsconsider “back-up schools” might not need high grades, but at the very least they need thesatisfaction of knowing that you took a test and that they have a number by
As child growing up some of the frightful memories include a visit to the dentist; an evil man with scary drill whose solve purpose is to hurt you or the first day in elementary school you finally leave all behind the cozy classrooms and nap times of kindergarten and enter the big leagues. All of these are considered a cakewalk compared to standardize testing. Since the start of elementary school students in the United States are taught to test. In many instances students are held back or placed in remedial classes because of lower grades. But many don’t realize that some students are not great at testing taking and because of the lower grades some educators believe that these students are lower achievers. This leads to lower self-esteem and encourage students to drop out in later years. Also students are forced to memorize information merely as facts without sparking their creativity or enhancing their knowledge.
His hands are shaking, his palms are sweaty, he is afraid his heart is about to beat out of his chest. The rectangular thing is placed in front of him. A bead of sweat drips from his forehead. he wipes it away. Soon after that he faints. This is all because of a simple rectangular piece of paper that has the words standardized test written on it in big, bold, black letters. These are just some of the signs of test anxiety, all so teachers, schools, and students can be compared to one another. Standardized testing is wrong and uneducational. Some would ask why this is erroneous, when the schools get money if the students do well on these tests. This is amiss because of three simple reasons. One, standardized testing does not work. Two, standardized tests only measure a small portion of why makes education meaningful. Finally three, standardized testing causes severe stress in younger students.
Some people can’t sleep. Some never eat” (Charbonneau 94). Adding to the pressure of doing well, researchers in real life have found that “pressure to perform well on standardized tests puts an incredible amount of stress on students and teachers alike that only serves to inhibit
In Florida alone, the number of different standardized tests given to students spanning kindergarten through 12th grade has increased to over sixteen. Often students are faced with the harsh realization that not scoring well can mean the difference between a pass and a fail grade. That kind of pressure can lead to a complete shutdown of their learning. Although students are heavily impacted by the pressure and anxiety that accompanies standardized testing, they are not the only ones. Teachers, not unlike students, often have the thought of failing looming over their head....
Who, what, when, where, why? Curiosity is always persistent in the younger years, and society should encourage this. The trouble is, the United States education system is, unknowingly, doing everything in its power to destroy students’ natural want to learn. Much to the joy of every student in the U.S., what the educational system is doing can certainly be undone. Currently, the U.S. uses standardized testing such as the SAT, the ACT, and state mandated tests like Ohio’s AIR testing to assess an individual’s knowledge. The scores received on these standardized tests can determine if the student graduates or gets in to their preferred college, or even if a teacher gets to keep their job (“Standardized Tests” 10). Not only
Why is standardized testing part of the college admission process? Some of us might still remember taking the SAT or ACT when we were applying for college; however few of us question why we have to take such a test. Millions of dollars are spent on prep materials all so we can achieve a decent score and hope colleges will be impressed. The College Board claims a high SAT or ACT score correlates to college success which is defined as a good GPA throughout college. However if you stop and ask yourself what the SAT or ACT has to do with college success, most of us will arrive at the conclusion that these tests have almost have nothing to do with college success. Some of the questions are simply on these tests are simply ridiculous and will never
Test anxiety or stress can impair students’ academic performance on standardized tests and thereby hide their true abilities and strengths. Anthony Pasquale quotes, “… Intensive standardized testing not only causes stress in students but may undermine learning," wrote Daniel Edelstein in an article for Brain Connection. “Stress is the body's general response to any intense physical, emotional or mental demand placed on it." Stress undermines learning because it affects the way one thinks. Tests stress some people out in a harmful way, and what happens when stressed out students take tests? Normally not good results…” The education system is putting too much emphasis on testing and not seeing the consequences on student’s mental health. I am personally affected by standardized tests because these tests potentially determine my future. I experienced anxiety, severe panic attacks, and headaches because I was stressed thinking about the tests or simply not concentrating while taking the tests. I know my education has a power to determine my future through the years coming, but I am exhausted at the fact that a grade on the tests determines my
Students and teachers both can have anxiety about testing. Teachers can be worried about the students’ performance on a test – a test that does not measure a student’s intelligence unless the student is good at taking tests. A student might be a gifted musician, artist, or athlete, but if they do not pass a standardized test, they are considered unfit for most colleges. Moreover, since the test is so important and they do not want to fail, students might be nervous while taking this test and because of this, they might not perform as well as they could. Also, a student’s self-esteem and self-worth can be lowered if they do not do well on a standardized test. This can be for two different reasons. One, a student might have thought they had done better on the test and the results could not be what they expected and they could feel like a failure. This can cause a student’s self-esteem to be lowered. Two, they might become worried about their future if they don’t receive a high score. There are many students who have the pressure of their family to do well and if they do not, they might become depressed. Even President Obama thought that standardized testing was not a good way to do things. Taken from an article written by Jonathan Glover (2016) of The
It’s an age-old question. Do standardized tests really show what students know? Some may think they are a great way to measure education and others may think that one test does not justify a child’s knowledge. What is this test exactly? A standardized test is any test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from a common bank of questions, in the same way. They are used to “judge” or “measure” the knowledge or skills that students learn in school. The problem with these standardized tests is that they measure all students on the same material, leaving out special skills the student may have. It also puts a great deal of stress on a student to know that they will be timed on these questions that
Standardized testing is something all students and teachers dread. The weeks leading up to the tests are filled with teachers stressing about grants and their jobs both of which are riding on students success; students worrying about being able to pass the test to move on to the next grade, giving the state a bad impression about their teachers, and if their scores on these tests will affect their chances of going to college. This is what the states standardized tests are doing to instructors and pupils all across the country. Researchers at Bowling Green State University in Ohio found that two out of three surveyed elementary school students said that proficiency testing caused excess stress, and three out of four secondary students shared that belief. (Edwards)
The average students in the U.S. takes about 112 standardized test between pre-kindergarten and twelfth grade. That does not include the course quizzes, test, assessments, SAT or ACT. There are many things wrong with today's standardized test, but the main topics to focus on when it comes to those test are, the amount of test students take, the lack of feedback, and diversity, the value of creativity, and the false sense of security.
Time seems to be moving at a relatively slower pace than usual. It’s theoretically not possible but every student who is taking a standardized test will have to disagree. What’s a Standardized test you ask, well it’s the all-around test that evaluates a student’s performance in school, which helps for both the student and the school to improve their academics in the future.