In the realm of education, assessments like quizzes are valuable tools for evaluating students' understanding of the material presented in class. However, the debate over whether quizzes should allow erasure or not has sparked discussions among educators and students alike. Some argue that allowing erasures promotes a culture of perfectionism and undermines the importance of critical thinking skills, while others believe that erasures are essential for fair assessment and learning from mistakes. This essay will present arguments supporting the idea that quizzes should not have erasures, and explore the benefits of this approach in the educational setting. Encouraging Accountability and Responsibility One of the primary reasons why quizzes should not have erasures is that it encourages students to take responsibility for their work and hold themselves accountable for their …show more content…
This approach promotes the development of problem-solving skills as students learn to evaluate information, make informed decisions, and justify their responses without the luxury of erasing mistakes. By facing the consequences of their choices, students are motivated to think critically and strategize their approach to tackle challenging questions effectively. Promoting a Growth Mindset and Learning from Mistakes Another compelling argument in favor of quizzes without erasures is that it promotes a growth mindset among students. When students cannot erase their answers, they are forced to confront their mistakes and learn from them. This process of self-reflection and learning from errors contributes to a deeper understanding of the material and enhances long-term retention. By embracing mistakes as opportunities for growth, students develop resilience and perseverance, essential qualities for academic and personal
(1). By changing their mindset to a growth mindset can lead them to be successful students demonstrate consistency on their desire to learn. “Children who are praised their effort on the other hand, believe they are capable of taking on new challenges are more motivated, perform better and take failure as a stride”(1). Those who have a growth mindset have a positive mindset and take failure as a new opportunity to improve not only in their academic performance but also in their lives they will see failure as an opportunity for them to do better and change so they can be
Many studies show that older high school students tend to not take the mandated standardized test but rather “have fun” with the test by filling in the answer bubbles with pictures (Tests 3). The only time that students care about the results of a test are if they affect their grades or future goals. From th...
Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these tests do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a student.
For the PDSA cycle I am going to use individual journal entries because they are engaging and interactive to every student, and they are a great tool in reflecting on what each student has learned in the lesson. “Student-centered assessments must be engaging and interactive, while incorporating sharing, trusting, team building, reflecting, helping and coaching.”(Pitas, 2000) The students will be given the freedom to write anything that is on their mind and the students will answer three questions that will help generate well thought out answers. The students will write at the very least a paragraph for each day they are learning a lesson.
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
There’s nothing worse than to have students sum up all their knowledge, skills, thoughts, talents, and abilities into one multiple-choice test with one “right” answer. This is why assessments must encompass more ways of evaluating students than a paper and pencil strategy that does not account for the various competences of every student. This is one of the many reasons why standardized testing has been undoubtedly one of the most controversial topics in education to date. With this being said, there are alternatives to standardized tests that involve different opportunities including portable portfolios, performance exams, exhibitions, and/or recorded sessions to better “test” a student’s knowledge and abilities.
Assessments have always been a tool for teachers to assess mastery and for a long time it was just to provide a grade and enter it into the grade book or report card. Through resources in and out of the course, there has been a breath of new life into the research on how to use assessments. They take many forms and fall within the summative or formative assessment category. Sloan (2016) addresses how formative assessments has traditionally been used by teachers to modify instruction, but when we focus on a classroom that is learner-centered “it becomes assessment for learning as opposed to assessment of learning” (slide 4). The fact is, the students are the ones that should be and are the ones using the data we collect through assessments, since it is our way of providing feedback in order
Regular use of formative assessment improves student learning as instruction can be adjusted based on students’ progress and teachers are able to modify instructions to cater to students’ individual needs (Black & Wiliam, 2010; Taylor-Cox, & Oberdorf, 2013). Various forms of informal and formal formative assessment methods are conducted as learning takes place, continuously through teacher observations, questioning through individual interactions, group discussions and open-ended tasks (McMillan, 2011). tests can tell us a lot about students and be used to inform and guide teaching, rather than simply to determine grades. Teachers can learn a lot from test results if they analyse the data generated to inform their teaching and learning programs (Perso, 2009). However, high stakes tests may result in students becoming stressed, leading to misreading questions, careless working and incomplete answers (Booker et al., 2010).
Standardized tests are used to evaluate a student’s performance, however, tests do not take external factors into account. This already means that tests are often inaccurate methods of measuring a students academic potential. Also, the tests do a disservice to students as they evaluate their proficiency at a time of testing, rather than their growth and improvement over the course of the year. The tests have become an outdated method of challenging students and only have negative impacts at this point. The tests develop high levels of stress in students, which is not healthy for an individual during the most important development years of their lives. Eliminating these tests will assist students in the long run as they can accommodate more time towards learning information rather than stressing over a single test. By replacing tests with more in-class lessons students will be free of constant stress and still learn the curriculum. Research shows that students are unable to remember information on standardized tests in the long run, therefore, by spending more time learning and understanding information, students are able to have a better understanding of topics. Therefore, by removing standardized tests students will be provided with a better, more effective, and fair educational
However, the lack of failure among students becomes a lesson well learned. For instance, when you make an error in a math problem, there are several ways to prove or resolve the problem correctly. When students form conflicts they can increase their minds by understanding every error they produce constantly. Gardner states, “yet, for most individuals, challenge to a deeply held belief at least compels attentions; and efforts to defend that belief, or to discover a better belief, line the most promising routes toward enhanced understanding” (634). In this segment, Gardner describes students how their struggles can be either secure or exposed into a massive improvement of understanding.
For many years, school systems and parents all over America have been asking- does high school testing measure a student’s knowledge fairly, accurately, and do they benefit the student. The tests do not accurately measure a student’s true academic ability. Furthermore, testing does not always fairly measure a student’s knowledge. High-stakes testing only adds stress to a student’s life. Studies have proven that testing is not beneficial to a student’s educational growth. Testing in high school is affected by different factors; therefore results can be unreliable and not beneficial to the growth of students.
Problem-solving help the students to create their own representation or illustration (De Corte, Vrerschaffel, De Win 1985; Hegarty, Mayer, Monk, 1995; Pape, 2003) based on how they interpret or understand the given problem (Pape, 2003; Van der Schoot, Bakker Arkema, Horsley, Van Lieshout, 2009). Problem-solving also tests their critical thinking skills on how they look for another strategy or ways to solve the problem easier. Problem-solving helps the problem solver to develop characteristics of a good problem solver which includes open-mindedness, optimistic, persistent, not afraid to commit mistakes and systematic person since he is following a certain step in solving the
As teachers, we have to monitor the progress our students make each day, week, quarter and year. Classroom assessments are one of the most crucial educational tools for teachers. When assessments are properly developed and interpreted, they can help teachers better understand their students learning progress and needs, by providing the resources to collect evidence that indicates what information their students know and what skills they can perform. Assessments help teachers to not only identify and monitor learners’ strengths, weaknesses, learning and progress but also help them to better plan and conduct instruction. For these reasons, ongoing classroom assessment is the glue that binds teaching and learning together and allows educators to monitor their efficacy and student learning.
Assessment is a tool used in the classroom every day. It is used to measure a student’s mastery of a skill or knowledge of a given subject. It is also what demonstrates to the teacher what the students have learned. Educators use that information to determine if they need to re-teach to a specific student, group, or the entire class. They can also use that information to determine the rate of their teaching. Assessments are important because, as teachers, we need to know what difficulties our students have and what needs to be refined for them. While I do believe in assessment and feel that it is one of the key components of teaching, I am more concerned with a child’s process of learning rather than the overall product that comes from it. This is where grades come in for me. Grades determine the students’ level of mastery on a subject, nothing more. Grades should not be the exclusive indicators that a student has learned the information that is presented to them. It is the things a student learns along the way that truly matter and sometimes cannot be measured.
As I reflect on my past assessment process, I realized how much my assessments have changed over the years. In my early years, I used tests for informational recall as my assessments. I felt these were appropriate guidelines in which I needed to follow in order to substantiate a student’s grade. Every assignment or tests was given a point value and then based on the amount of points, a grade was given. Every student’s assessment was exactly the same, and the assessments did not contain any subjectivity. I felt confident in giving the grade based on a valid point system. However reflecting back, I see that I did not include any performance-based assessments or individual learning styles in my early assessment. I also did not take into consideration the individual needs of my students. My assessment approach was awful. I am embarrassed that I use to assess students in this manner.