The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
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.
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...
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This is precisely the problem. Standardized tests are old and outdated, and the harm they cause to America’s education system by far outweighs the benefits. These tests were intended to monitor and offer ways to improve how public schools function, but instead they have impaired the natural learning ability of students and imposed upon the judgment of experienced educators. Although a means to evaluate the progress of public schools is necessary, it is also necessary to develop more modern and effective ways of doing so. Standardized testing mandated by the federal and state governments has a negative effect on the education of America’s youth.
“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
Since the release of the report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in December of 2010 many in the government and community are searching for ways to reform the American education system to give American students the greatest opportunity to succeed. According to the report, American students are not testing as high as other nations in the world (Duncan, 2010). There are many contributing elements that have brought America to her knees in the education system, however, the obsession with standardized testing is found to be one of the most influential downfalls.
“If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a packet. There’s kids in here that don’t learn like that. They need to learn face to face. I’m telling you what you need to do. You can’t expect a kid to change if all you do is just tell ‘em.” Texas student, Jeff Bliss, decided to take a stand against the lack of teaching going on in his class (Broderick).
In the contemporary American education system high-stakes standardized testing has resulted in a focus on extensive test preparation, as well as a large increase in the numbers of teachers cheating by alternating their students' test scores. Both these phenomena are a direct consequence of the incentives and punishments directly linked to standardized test results.
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.
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.
The United States Breeding Organization is a major business organization to the masses.” The U.S. n Education Department arrangement is faulting and citizenry are scared for the future of their children. (Atlantic)” U.S.A. Is great an area and is known for its greatness, but its pedagogy is constantly failing. Teacher, parent, and students are the main reasons that America’s Education Department organization is failing. In the clause it state of matter,” The American system is supposed to prepare students, to help them know how to grip real world positions, and to mold them into better people.(PBS)”America's education system has been failing for many years, mainly because they do not have leading. In order for the system to improve and
If you are a student in some form of higher education institution, you might have gone through the scary phase of having to take a standardized test to apply for a college, a scholarship program or better still to complete the high school program. Normally good scores in these tests guarantees good scholarships or admission into an institution because the scores from standardize tests are used as a conclusive measure of one’s abilities. But due to the fact that these scores ignores years of hard work and commitment and focuses on just a test, it’s about time we acknowledge standardized tests are not an accurate measure of one’s knowledge.
Olivo 5 Julian Olivo Mr. Wiglesworth ELA Block 1 3-7-2016 Critical Issues of Failing Students in America How many students are reported to be failing in America? According to the U.S. Department of Education (2015), there are about 50 million students across America and 7,000 of them drop out of school each day as a result of academic lag. Moreover, students all over America are failing, thanks to the current federal, state, and local systems. In their high school years, many students begin or continue to fail their classes, and the United States Department of Education needs to do something about it. The nation needs to rebuild the federal, state, and local support systems for failing students.
Every student's nightmare: tests. Not any normal, everyday test: the standardized test. These tests bring horror and stress to all students, especially high schoolers who ”choose” to take the standardized tests to use on their resume. Society continually affirms that standardized test are suppose to measure academic achievement, but can this be measured and help students? Do taking standardized tests actually correlate to real world success?
“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.
By definition, a test is a given short written or oral examination to determine a person’s proficiency or knowledge in a specific subject, and it seems that recently standardized tests have been lacking in regards to the true definition. Standardized testing is speculated to have its roots in seventh century China, where they would administer a test on Confucian era philosophy and poetry as a selection process for civil service, this form of testing has evolved into the tests we know today as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing (ACT). Today too many students are depressed and anxious from education related stress, the added mental strain of a mandatory test that sometimes even determines whether or not that student goes to college seems cynical and over the top. Standardized tests should be reformed to judge a students ability to retain knowledge and skills long term and steer educators away from solely teaching students how to pass the test.
Scott Barry Kaufman, author of American Education and The IQ Test, says that when it comes to testing, “You're either gifted or you're not, for the rest of your life,” even though “‘human potential’ is a moving target.” My solution is to let students decide which classes they have, so they can prove themselves to be excellent students. In my school, those who wish to take AP courses are free to do so, despite previous test scores from state testing. Another argument is made by Bronwyn T Williams, who in Standardized Students: The Problems with Writing for Test instead of People mentions how standardized tests don’t always accurately measure how well a student does in school. He uses his twin boys as an example, stating that, “One son excels at taking standardized tests of all kinds by understanding the rhetorical structure of the questions and the institutional demands of the exam. The other, though in some ways a more powerful writer and just as strong a student in school, has always found standardized tests rigid and bewildering.” However, he also mentions that “standardized tests can be ‘gamed,’” meaning you can learn how the test is written in order to pass the test. I know from taking practice ACT exams that it takes effort to pass. So much in fact, that I believe that the tests do effectively see how well you can study for something. I’ve also noticed that most people who don’t do well for tests don’t study for them, leading them to have low scores, further proving that standardized tests test how much a student