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Pros and cons of standardized testing
Drawbacks of standardized testing
Pros and cons of standardized testing
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The need for an indicator of academic preparation and college placement yielded the American College Testing. Since the early 1900’s, standardized college admission test has been the forefront of getting into college. Student success in college has used standardized testing as an effective tool for predicting success. Various studies have shown the importance of ACT testing as being a reliable source in predicting a student’s success. However, other studies have shown the lack of importance and ineffective indicators that come with standardized testing. Examining the history, research studies, pros and the cons of the standardized testing will conclude of why some colleges and post-secondary education systems are moving away from this type of testing just as they adopted it.
Too much emphasis is put on standardized testing for college admissions. Standardized testing is the number one way to enroll students in to college. Standardized testing has its pros and cons when it comes to college admissions. The ACT and SAT avenues play a major part in students’ lives more than actual school life. Student-athletes have a much harder stint with college admissions than most when it comes to standardized testing (“arguments”). For example, two young men, John and Greg, plays high school football with the dream of playing at a college level. Both have the same athletic talent, but John had a 3.5 GPA while Greg had a 2.0 GPA. Scores are received and John made a 17 and Greg makes a 24. While both student-athletes have equal talent, most schools in the country would only want Greg despite John’s 3.5 GPA. Is that fair? Did Greg prepare better than John? Was John having a bad day? Was Greg’s version of the test so different, which if John would ...
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...away from the ACT or SAT and focusing on other skills like social interaction. Although it is important for students to get a good education, it is imperative that all students are given the skills, the opportunity, and equality to obtain that good education.
Works Cited
“Admissions.” University business.com. universitybusiness.com/Article/Admissions, Dec.2004.web.6 fed.2014
“Arguments for and against standardized testing in college admission.” Campus tours.com. Ecampustours.com, 25 Jan 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2014
“Standardized test scores and their use in college admission.” Public.iestate.edu./~rhetoric, 5 Oct. 2010. Web. 6 Feb. 2013
“Standardized testing.” Gameofroles.wordpress Gameofroles.wordpress.com/2014 11/17, 17 Nov 2011. Web 6 Feb. 2014
“Pros and cons of standardized testing.” Standardizedtests.procon.org. procon.org. 19 Dec. 2013. Web 4. Feb. 2014
... a tedious process, but the change can have immense, positive effects for the future college student. The ACT and SAT that supposedly measure a student's learning potential through multiple-choice questions should be replaced by a test of a student's desire to learn determined through the analysis of essays, recommendation letters, and school or community involvement. This change can result in a more academically motivated freshman class. Standardized testing in its current form does not accurately measure most students' learning potential. It does not allow for diversity and creates a huge hurdle for many potential academic achievers. An adjustment to a diverse, open testing format of the ACT or SAT and a stress on the student's other academic accomplishments can accurately measure the student's desire to learn, therefore measuring the student's learning potential.
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Chapter 12 introduces the reader to the true definition of statistics, without scaring them half to death. The book breaks statistics down in two parts: descriptive and inferential. The type that is dealt with in this chapter is descriptive statistics. The simple definition of descriptive statistics are that they are just numbers in different forms, for example, percentages, numerals, fractions, and decimals. The book gives an example of a grade point average being a descriptive statistic.
At the University of California-Berkeley (Cal State), the minimum SAT score requirements for student-athletes were vastly below the average of regular incoming freshman. It is clear that in all three SAT categories, the scores were a 200 points below the incoming freshman class. Colleges in the United States are not focu...
In the United States of America, Standardized testing has become a way of life for students and children, especially in public schools. Many argue that standardized testing does not measure the students as a whole, takes up valuable classroom time, and creates drastic mental health problems in students and teachers. In recent years, a controversy surrounding the idea of standardized testing has been brought forth as something that needs to be changed or adapted to the growing needs of today’s students and this can be examined when exploring the negative effects, the testing has had on society’s future.
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.
The overall purpose of schooling is to advance one’s knowledge and skill base and through standardized testing the belief is that one’s knowledge and skill base can be assessed and analyzed, but what occurs many a times is a teacher's difficulty to expand upon the learning process due to the confinements that testing has on his/hers ability to teach. In a qualitative study performed by the Morehead State University it was determined that in a particular rural school standardized testing had implemented a limit on the amount of time that teachers were able to instruct, as well as limitations on the “instructional resources and the types of assessments teachers employed” (Thomas, 2005). Even if a teacher was content with teaching the state
Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.