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High Stakes Testing Research Paper

549 Words3 Pages

Why should one test have such a substantial effect on our future? Unfortunately, this is a task one has to perform to get into to get admission into an American university. The SAT or ACT are required in order to apply to any American university. I find this requirement unfair for many reasons. One requirement in particular being the difference in resources that students have to prepare for the test. While some kids are financially stable, and can afford to have training and preparation for these exams, there are other kids who cannot. These kids may not be able to get into a university as they lacked the crucial help and resources to not only pass the test but score as high as the students who have the edge to prepare better. My question is why are American school systems are relying so much on one test to defy a student’s grade or future? Studies have shown that high stake testing like the SAT’s, have cut down on different ethnicities getting into colleges. According an article written by Rebecca Zwick, At the University of California Berkeley, African American enrollment dropped by more than 60% in 1997. The Dean at Berkeley has said: "We...have evidence that the SAT loses us 2,000 Latino students this year alone." This means, that this high stakes testing exam ruins the chances for over 2,000 Latino’s …show more content…

As “Education week 's” Ron Wolk’s has said, “The system failed to educate them adequately, and now it punishes them for not being educated." Ron Wolk is stating that with a school district failing to educate its students, these students have to pay the price by failing the test. High Stakes testing may also affect the district. Low scores could result in the reorganization of schools or a shift of resources to charter schools or private-school vouchers. Who knew that one test could severely damage a community and school

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Levine claims that schools are starting to expand the quality of the student body by the rate of the students standardized test (22). Colleges are not looking to get students who do not apply themselves, but also, colleges are making it harder for the poor students that are trying to better their education. Along the same lines, Graff reminds us of the competition of comparing test scores in school (249). Graff explains, in school scores are made up by one’s reading ability, instead of, like in sports, the actual competition itself or arguing (249). Overall schools are using test scores as a way to compete with education instead of looking out for the best interests of the

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The tests narrow down the curriculum to focus on the subjects that are on the test, forgetting about the other subjects. Standardized tests cannot measure all that schools teach like how to be a problem solver. Standardized tests have not improved America’s education system. Every once in a while the world will submit their schools performance and they will be ranked with

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1119 Words | 5 Pages

On a blog post called “Dealing with Bias in the SAT” which supports the idea or discovery, a student named Olivia commented, “I am Latina and I think that racial bias in SAT tests is utter nonsense.” (Teaching Tolerance 2010), and posted a link that discussed what the author believed the issue really is. A report conducted by the University of California professor, Mark Wilson concludes, through careful examination and comparison of different tests, that African American students did not do as well as white students because minorities in general have a hard time understanding certain words on the test (Junkscience Mom 2010). Reading this contradictory article raised confusion to me on what the real truth behind the biased claims are. As the student Olivia stated, she thinks that the questions are not biased against any race, which is the other students who stated their opinions on the same websites and her perspective on the idea.

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338 Words | 2 Pages

I believe this article in asking the question; Are High-Stakes Tests punishing some students is a valid issue. A high percentage of students who are failing these standardized tests are from poor, low-income, ethnic, racial minority and special education students. Here are some specific tests and results. The ACLU of Massachusetts states the testing gap punishes the poor, and ethnic minority the most. There is a testing gap between rich and poor communities.

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1304 Words | 6 Pages

Although the College Board believes the SAT is a good predictor of academic success, this method of testing should be optional for students, as high school GPAs are better reflections on a student’s work ethics and future success in

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709 Words | 3 Pages

In today’s world, students are required to take the SAT and ACT, which open doors for some people and exclude

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729 Words | 3 Pages

As students start their senior year of high school there are many changes in their life. This is the time of a student’s life when they decide what they want to do after they graduate high school. Students can decide to join the military, work, or continue their education at a college or university. For the students who continue their education they have many things to do before they finally get accepted. A common step they take is taking the The American College Test (ACT) and the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).

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1241 Words | 5 Pages

SATS and ACTS have been used for numerous years as a way to gauge a student’s academic success while in college. Students have the choice which test they would prefer to take and most colleges do not prefer one test over the other. There are a few key differences between the SAT and ACT, which may make one test more suitable than the other for those taking the tests. Many studies have proven that the SAT and ACT are not the best judge of future success, and that colleges should focus their applications more on past grades and accomplishments to decide which students should be accepted to their university. SATs and ACTs are not an effective measure of college readiness and future academic success.

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1523 Words | 7 Pages

Another thing that places students of color at a disadvantage in college admissions is the persisting cultural bias in high-stakes testing. “High-stakes” tests are those that are tied to major consequences, such as admission to college, or even high school graduation. Fair education reform advocates have long been citing an extensive record of standardized testing concerns, many of which relate to racial bias and discrimination. As researcher and author Harold Berlak explains in the journal Rethinking Education: Standardized testing perpetuates institutionalized racism and contributes to the achievement gap between whites and minorities. For instance, the deeply embedded stereotype that African Americans perform poorly on standardized tests

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483 Words | 2 Pages

Should The SAT Determine Your Future Throughout the years there have been many questions regarding the reliability of the SAT. Should an aptitude test be such a large factor in college acceptance. I firmly believe The SAT should not be a factor in college admissions because it has proven to be biased , unreliable, and overall unjust. The Scholastic Aptitude test, or SAT is no stranger to high school students across America. The test is divided into two sections of math and verbal language skills, a total of 138 questions with a point scale ranging from 200-800.

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734 Words | 3 Pages

In fact 70 percent of educators surveyed in 2015 say that tests are not developmentally appropriate. Furthermore many students suffer a great deal of stress because of standardized tests. What’s most shocking is that instead of lower income schools getting better after tests were implemented they have actually gotten worse. School could essentially be taught by robots. At this point most teachers in my district have to teach a curriculum that is developed by the state instead of their own curriculum.

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1027 Words | 5 Pages

The reason behind its creation is because of the passing of the “No Child Left Behind Act”; which was created to “highlight the concern that the American Education system was missing compared to its other international competitors by raising standards, increasing accountability, and making sure all kids, regardless of background, had access to a high-level of education” (Legal Information Institute 2001). The issue with standardized testing is that it harms communities, increases anxiety and stress levels, perpetuates inequality, and is a bad predictor of future success by creating inequality, increasing stress levels, and by limiting new academic methods. Standardized tests can often help and worsen the differences in social and economic status. This is because students from wealthy families typically have better access to better resources for preparing for standardized tests, which results in them scoring higher on these tests and perpetuating the cycle of

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196 Words | 1 Pages

Theoretically, standardized tests are designed to give everyone the same chance to get into a college or into a certain program at college, without outside factors like easier/harder tests being issued to different people. Practically, every school learns differently than each other. In one class, they might have covered something that will be on the test whereas another school has yet to cover that topic or just simply doesn’t cover it at all, whether due to limited time or due to the amount of relevance that it will have on in an individual’s life outside of school. No matter what strategy someone comes up with to even out the playing field and make schooling fair to everyone, there will always pros and cons to all of them. Tests like the

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656 Words | 3 Pages

You come out of the test feeling dejected and depressed, and wanting to retake the test. That is what the SATs can do to you. The SATs are not accurate because it causes so much stress for the students. Also, having a test-required policy limits the amount of students in the applicant pools of colleges and universities. Therefore, we should stop using the SATs as a big part of college admission.

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1539 Words | 7 Pages

It is unfair for colleges to be so dependent on a standardized test that does not predict how the student will succeed in college. The ACT is a test that is based on information that has either been taught since elementary school or not taught at all. First of all, I do not have a brain that can hold useless information forever. However, my brain is able to effectively absorb the lectures that are taught in a classroom and use that knowledge gained in order to pass that class. Likewise, in college, I will also be tested on the information that was taught in a class, instead of random information that I do not know.

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