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A essay about standardized testing
A essay about standardized testing
Debate surrounding standardized testing
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Standardized tests must be improved. Instead of traditional standardized testing, random testing should be put in place and tests themselves should be reconstructed to promote fairness, reduce errors and and more accurately assess student’s knowledge. Testing should be done to random groups of students on random dates throughout the year. There will be a large enough group of students to give a good idea of how well material is being taught but a small enough group that not everyone needs to take the test.
Cheating is a major problem with standardized tests. Cheating leads to inaccurate test scores (Dolezalek 71). In many cases of it is the teachers that are the ones cheating. “About 10 percent of the teachers admitted to providing hints about the answers during the test administration; about 10 percent pointed out mismarked items by students; about 15 percent of the teachers provided more time for the test than was allowed; and about 5 percent of the teachers engaged in instruction during the test” (Dolezalek 73). Teachers can also cheat by altering finished tests by filling in blank answers or fixing the answers at the end of the test which tend to be the hardest (Dolezalek 75). Teachers are often pushed by administrators who also cheat for their schools. “In July 2011 the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released a report on the Atlanta Public Schools charging a widespread cheating conspiracy over a ten year period by 178 teachers, principals and administrators to fix answers on the statewide competency test” (“Pressure Caused Teachers to Cheat”). The fact that federal budgets can be determined by tests causes some schools and states to cheat (Dolezalek 76). Schools cheat because the system for determining budgets makes n...
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...argets Has Caused Teachers to Cheat.” Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from “GBI Reveals Why Cheating Occurred in Atlanta Public Schools.” Teacher World. 10 July 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web 4 March 2014.
“Why Can Some Kids Handle the Pressure While Others Fall Apart?” The New York Times. The New York Times, 6 Feb. 2013. Web. 10 March 2014.
“Why Standardized Tests Don’t Measure Educational Quality.” ASCD. Educational Leadership, March 1999. Web. 10 March 2014.
Walberg, Herbert J. “Standardized Tests Effectively Measure Student Achievement.” Standardized Testing. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. of “Stop the War Against Standardized Tests.” Defining Ideas: A Hoover Institution Journal. (20 May 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 March 2014.
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.
Cheating can be a common routine in a classroom—from copying work on homework to copying answers on a test. “Cheating by teachers and administrators on standardized tests is rare, and not a reason to stop testing America's children” (Standardized Tests). This statement is proved false by the fact that thirty-seven states have been caught cheating by “encouraging teachers to view upcoming test forms before they are administered” (“FairTest Press Release: Standardized Exam Cheating in 37 States And D.C., New Report Shows Widespread Test Score Corruption”). If teachers can view a test before it is administered, they can teach to the test so that their students’ scores are higher. Teachers who have viewed the test can then “drill students on actual upcoming test items” (“FairTest Press Release: Standardized Exam Cheating in 37 States And D.C., New Report Shows Widespread Test Score Corruption”). This is morally wrong since teachers who do not have the access to an actual test or those who refuse to view it do not know what would be on the test and cover a broad domain of material, not just specifics.
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
In “Standardized testing undermines teaching,” the author, Diane Ravitch, reviewed a book she authored, The death and life of the great American school system: how testing and choice are undermining education. This review highlights various cons of Standardized testing on the students and educators. She states that standardized testing and the use of incentives to motivate students and educators have failed to meet the set goals. Although the author was at the forefront of advocating for this system, she is now opposed to it and sceptical of the use of incentives to motivate teachers. She also reviews the role of charter schools in perpetuating classism. She states that standard tests and the use of...
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
A nationwide investigation also reviled school across the nation were involved in changing test scores. In order to stop this cruel and I think criminal intent on our children we must understand different learning habits. Also understand the environment of the child. The environment plays a strong role in how our children learn and are able to grasp what is being taught. Most importantly we must be patient. Every child does not learn one the same level. We are all different in so many ways. The teaching outline should reflect our unique characteristics. Let’s use the universalization test. What would the United States be like if every educator changed test scores? We would be a nation of inadequate uneducated individuals. We have an unwavering responsibility to our children.
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
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.
Popham, W. James. “Standardized Achievement Tests: Misnamed and Misleading.” Education Week. September 2001. Web. 28 June 2015.
Peterson, B. & Neill, M. (2014). Alternatives to standardized testing. Rethinking Schools. Retrieved from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/restrict.a sp?path=archive/13_03/assess.shtml
Popham, W. J. (1999, March). Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality. Educational Leadership, 56(6), 8-15.
“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.
The year 2015 is rapidly coming to an end. Sadly, that means it won’t be long until standardized tests come back into student’s lives. Standardized testing is necessary just not as much of it! Too much time is wasted, teachers and students are measured, and tests are too stressful are all reasons that students should have less testing.