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An essay about standardized testing
An essay about standardized testing
Education change and reform
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The Every Student Succeeds Act is a federal statute that became a law on December 10, 2015. This law reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. ESSA gives the state’s power to determine how to use required tests for accountability purposes, includes grants to help fund different programs, and provides states with flexibility that they did not have before. There are also some requirements ESSA includes, such as; it requires schools to consult stakeholders for the planning and implementation of safety standards and academic achievement, and schools must continue to give the same amount of standardized tests. However, the ESSA gives the states the right to determine how much the standardized tests matter and states are allowed to include other forms of measurement of school and student performance. States are also required to continue to give graduation rates and English proficiency rates for English language learners. Struggling schools will be given funds to design and implement research-based interventions. This bill has several major provisions. These include:
• Providing states with more flexibility in determining how standardized tests are weighed. States are now allowed to include other forms of measurement of student and school performance.
• Grants to help fund different programs. These programs include: language instruction for ELL students, the improvement of struggling schools, development of programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives, giving rural school districts more flexibility of how to use federal funds, and revising the Impact Aid Formula, which helps educate federally connected children.
• School districts must check with stakeholders in the planning and implementation of safety s...
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...receive college scholarships or even future employment. Senate Bill 393 (2013) could have a huge impact on the future of some students. The decision to conduct research on this particular law was made for personal reasons. When my brother was seventeen years old, he stole fourteen dollars from a teacher. He was charged with a felony, which was eventually reduced to a misdemeanor. He has an exemplary employment history with the United States Army but, because he has a misdemeanor on his record, he has never been hired as a police officer. If Senate Bill 393 (2013) had been in effect when my brother made this mistake, he would have had another opportunity to make the right choices. With the implementation of this law, other students will be given more opportunities to succeed without being charged with a misdemeanor that could ultimately affect the rest of their life.
This required each state to develop a set of standards that each child would need to know in math and reading. The NCLB also required almost all of the students to be tested annually throughout elementary and middle school grades (Webb, Metha, Jordan 2013). The act also strived that all students would test at a proficient level by 2014. The impact of this decision was that the government would be more involved than ever before in how a school taught, what the school taught, and the requirements of outcomes. The downside impact of this was that states changed the proficiency levels over the years and there has been inconsistent data given when reported. In a report with control groups it is shown that there were changes before and after implementation of the NCLB (Ladd 2010). With that information one could conclude that the act was successful and should be further pursued along with
The implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act applied a market approach to school reform as a way of improving the school system. This new law promised an era of high standards, testing, and accountability in
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
“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
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 resulted from one of the most controversial House and Senate debates in history. It was also the biggest piece of civil rights legislation ever passed. The bill actually evolved from previous civil rights bills in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. The bill passed through both houses finally on July 2, 1964 and was signed into law at 6:55 P.M. EST by President Lyndon Johnson. The act was originally drawn up in 1962 under President Kennedy before his assassination. The bill originated from two others, and one of which was the Equal Opportunity Act of 1962 that never went into law. This bill made up the core of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Bureau of National Affairs 18-20).
Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation in the United States was commonly practiced in many of the Southern and Border States. This segregation while supposed to be separate but equal, was hardly that. Blacks in the South were discriminated against repeatedly while laws did nothing to protect their individual rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ridded the nation of this legal segregation and cleared a path towards equality and integration. The passage of this Act, while forever altering the relationship between blacks and whites, remains as one of history’s greatest political battles.
Civil right laws provide numerous examples on which individuals are protected by law. This paper provides simple examples of civil and criminal protection laws, by briefly describing a few civil right laws and the ways these laws may be utilized to improve or understand citizen rights. First, the student describes the sexual harassment law, which is explained in a simple manner but is violated none the less. Second, the student explains defamation, intimidation, discrimination and at-will employment. Finally, the student describes company procedures, policies and specific actions businesses should apply to evade harassment within their organizations.
I was not born until after Martin Luther King had died. Born in 1968, I didn't know African Americans were treated as second class citizens. The Civil Rights Movement was ongoing and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was being enforced. Unlike my parents, aunts and grandparents, when I got older I only heard of the Civil Rights Movement and Act of 1964 in school, and did not know that I was reaping the benefits from it until I was old enough to understand. Unlike the generation before me, I didn't have to deal with laws that did not protect their individual's rights, resulting in them being discriminated against continuously, such as going to segregated schools and having segregated public places. As a small boy, I didn't know they were attempting to defy racial discrimination and segregation. Because of the marches, boycotts, protests and federal government enforcement to end racial inequality, we would not have the Civil Rights Act of 1964 today that allows blacks the right to vote, citizenship, education, and able to utilize public facilities.
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...
Most educators and parents would desire an educational system where all students receive a balanced education that will afford all students the ability to compete in our ever changing society. This desire is great among students who live in economically challenged environments and those who attend poor schools. These students are at most risk of receiving a a proper education. This is partly due to lack of funding, and the inability for those poor schools to afford highly qualified teachers. Much controversy stems from this issue, poor schools not being able to afford highly trained teachers, students not having access to improved curriculums and extraordinary dropout rates. In an effort to combat these issues, the Bush administration implemented an act that purported to help schools to receive necessary funding for qualified teachers and to close the racial and ethnic gaps, known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA). However, the NCLBA failed to deliver on its promises and left already struggling schools and children in disarray attempting to reach government mandates rather than ensuring a balanced education for every student.
The "surge" of education mandates began with the implementation of Title I. in 1965. Almost every piece of education legislation since then has been to improve or update Title I. "Title I, Part A provides funds to state departments of education and in turn to local school districts to provide quality learning opportunities for students in low-income schools to meet challenging academic standards."(No Subject 8). It also funds programs to strengthen all core subjects including the arts (8). In order for educational agencies to receive these grants, they must "meet the requirements of four separate funding formulas: Basic Grants, Concentration Grants, Targeted Grants, and Education Finance Incentive Grants."(8).
In 2002, President George W. Bush passed the “No Child Left Behind Act” which tied in schools’ public funding to standardized tests and enforced the tests in elementary and high schools every year by state education departments. This law also began to put more emphasize on standardized tests which has diminished our level of education and the law “made standardized test scores the primary measure of school quality” (Diane Ravitch 28). Bush hoped this law motivated more students to do well on these exams and teachers to help them prepare better, but it ended up hurting many schools in the process. These exams like the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) should not play such a prominent role in schooling and the government should not make tests the main focal point.
The NCLB Act, “was designed to improve education and achievement in America’s schools in four clearly defined ways: accountability for results, an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research, expanded parental options and expanded local control flexibility.” Basically the Federal government funds schools for after-school programs to try to encourage school participation among students and reduce dropping out of school. Examples of after-school programs funded by the NCLB act are first and foremost tutoring, then extra-curricular activities such as sports, community service etc.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) deals with student achievement standards by holding schools accountable for the achievement of their students (Implementation 11). The NCLBA uses standardized tests to chart the success of students. If students are not meeting standards, the school is required to offer tutoring, which is funded by the state with Title I, the education mandate passed in which granted all public schools access to federal grants, money (No Subject 7). The Act itself is not the problem; the problem is that the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard which is a big part of the NCLBA is not being met. The AYP standard is not being met because schools are not changing their methods quickly enough. It was said in the NCLBA that schools nationwide were to have 100% proficiency of the AYP standard within 12 years (Implementation 9). Since the passing of the NCLBA in 2001, most public schools, nationwide have not improved at all.
As Rodney Paige, former Secretary of Education, said, “We have an educational emergency in the United States of America” (Hursh, 2007). The American ideal of egalitarianism essentially states that individuals should have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams, and an important part of being able to achieve this is attaining a quality education. Students of differing racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and ability levels should all have the same opportunities in receiving a high-quality education. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is seeking to change this. The NCLB is the current authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (Houston, 2007), which was passed during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. Every five years the ESEA is renewed. It is currently due for renewal in 2014.