ipl-logo

Opt Out Standardized Testing

854 Words4 Pages

Opting Out of Standardized Tests Isn’t the Answer

In the present era, people talk a lot about education structure and its standards in a region and its effects on various classes of people in that region. It is so because education is the primary thing that decides many facets of life and society. With respect to that, the annual standardized tests taken by school students is known for its importance as it is supposed to measure the progress in meeting national academic standards. One of the articles from New-York Times discusses about the issue of students’ aversion towards taking the standardized tests in the state of New-York because of the test pattern difficulties. It also ponders around the adverse effects of a large number of students …show more content…

It is known that (from the article) Federal law requires that at least 95 percent of eligible students take the annual tests, and districts that fall short may face penalties, including a loss of federal aid in that region. So, the choice to opt-out of standardized tests if given may prove unfair to people who are still interested in taking standardized tests and also undermine the funding opportunities to facelift the education quality in a particular region. Even if 6 percent (very less percent) of eligible students opt-out of tests in a particular district, it will produce adverse effects on federal aid allotment to that region. This vital relation between test taking population and federal aid allotment should be considered to deny the choice for students to opt-out of standardized tests in a region. It was also told that most of the people who opt out of the tests were white and come from wealthy or middle-class communities. As per federal law, the federal funding will not be available for minority people even if they are ready to take tests because of wealthier people opting to out of the tests. So, the choice to opt-out of tests will prove unfair to minority people in one or other way unless the Federal Law gets …show more content…

If the students take standardized tests, the national academic standards can be maintained and necessary federal aid gets sanctioned to the region with no hindrance. Moreover, the standardized tests serve as an important tool to keep up the equality in the society by closing the achievement gap between different communities. On the other hand, the authority should also find ways to solve the disconnection between classroom teaching and question framing methods to help the students to score better in standardized

Show More
Related
524 Words | 3 Pages

The Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. Modern day use the Federalist Papers to interpret the Constitution to look at the intentions of the framers and ratifies. This has been used on issues ranging from the power of the federal government in foreign affairs. However, there has been issues regarding the interpretation of the articles. That it is a lot of opinion that comes from the authors.

Read More
1029 Words | 5 Pages

Opt Out is a movement that is addressing the option of not having a child participate in standardized testing. This is part of the No Child Left Behind program and addresses the way standardized testing distorts and corrupts K-12 classrooms perception. A growing numbers of parents, teachers and students are questioning the value of federal, state and district testing. Opt Out is stating that standardized testing results have shown that it is not having a positive effect on preparing students for college. This subject is important not only because our group is comprised of a soon to be mother and a mother of a teenager but the overall effect on the educational system.

Read More
587 Words | 3 Pages

In doing research, I discovered the law Strauss was referring to was a part of the ESSA, in which it gives parents the right to opt their children out of exams, if the state allows it, according to FairTest. This is important because it gives the individual states the rights to decide if they want to mandate testing. This will negatively affect schools who might perform well on the tests, but only have a portion of the students participating in tests, as schools who have less than 95% participation, will receive zeroes on the students who don’t participate

Read More
607 Words | 3 Pages

In addition to that,the Federal law policy of implementing penalties on districts that fall short of 95% students taking standardized tests may prove worse for that particular district as far as education aids are considered. If students are given choice to opt-out,then the wealthier and middle class may opt-out and reduce the funding available for students who are still interested in taking tests. So,the issue must be addressed accordingly leaving everyone happy rather than some part of people happy. So as to conclude,the policy makers or political leaders should consider this issue in a holistic approach and should not give the flexibility for students to opt-out of annual tests as it retains the conventional education standards of the country which in turn may help build a fairly considered society.

Read More
1597 Words | 7 Pages

The state of Texas has been in a constant struggle within itself over just how to evaluate education, and standardized testing in Texas has been a major influencer in terms of the state’s standards for over thirty years. Though these methods of testing have been utilized for decades, resentment to the tests have been continuously rising among educators, parents, and students, but not everyone agrees. Despite government officials trying to quell these protests with changes to administration, and the way the test itself is formatted and formulated, there seems to have been little to no improvement made and those opposing the tests have started calling for an end to all standardized testing. For one to truly understand this ongoing struggle, one must first look at standardized testing’s beginning, then how government today is trying to fix the broken system, and finally consider the opinions of notable figures in the testing world.

Read More
680 Words | 3 Pages

Standardized testing has not improved education in America. Standardized tests have been issued in schools all across the nation for years now. Some people like them and some people don’t. They do not help the student learn more information than they would without the tests. The U.S. has dropped from 18th highest scores in schools in the world to be in the 30’s on almost all of the subjects on the test.

Read More
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.

Read More
1304 Words | 6 Pages

Currently, there are 850 test optional colleges in the USA and this number is slowly growing (Sheffer). William Hiss believes making standardized tests optional will allow more people to get a higher education (Sheffer). Optional testing creates a more equal opportunity for everyone. A Wake Forest study showed that the “average high school GPA of incoming freshman increased after the school stopped using standardized test scores as a factor in admissions” (Balf). It was also found that higher GPAs were maintained in college (Jaschik).

Read More
1776 Words | 8 Pages

Standardized Testing: Making College Admissions “Fair” Every year , the daunting prospect of undergoing standardized testing brings anxiety to thousands of high school students, and for good reason: a student’s performance on standardized college admission exams - most importantly, the ACT and SAT - is a major determinant in deciding where they will go to college. For decades, such standardized tests have been universally accepted as part of the admissions process: proponents argue, as Syverson (2007) explains, that such tests are the only way of standardizing college admissions when students from different schools have such widely varying profiles. However, in the past several decades a growing anti-testing movement has begun to poke holes

Read More
1749 Words | 7 Pages

Introduction Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of educational purposes. For example, they may be used to determine a young child’s readiness for kindergarten, identify students who need special-education services or specialized academic support, place students in different academic programs or course levels, or award diplomas and other educational certificates. Thesis Statement Standardized tests should not be eliminated completely, but should rather be evaluated in addition to other factors such as grades, extracurricular activities, and volunteer hours. This would take pressure off of students during standardized tests, allow colleges to see how well-rounded the students are, and give students who are better in other areas

Read More
547 Words | 3 Pages

“Opting Out of Standardized Tests Isn’t the Answer.” The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2015,

Read More
783 Words | 4 Pages

In spite of the fact that the United States allows everyone to have a chance, in view of government sanctioned testing, the extended periods of time at school and the way students are being left behind makes the American education system plummet. “As much as 90% of variation in student development is clarified by factors outside the control of educators” (Teachers 1). Regardless of whether there are issues outside of school or at school young people carry on with a troublesome life. With all the work and pressure they consume on a daily basis, it is astounding that they get through it. All these issues in their life essentially make it harder for them to take these tests and like the name states it is standard.

Read More
1191 Words | 5 Pages

School’s are using standardized testing for the wrong reason. “A standardized test is any examination that’s administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. There are two major kinds of standardized tests: aptitude tests and achievement tests” (Popham, 1999). The most common examples of aptitude tests are the SAT and the

Read More
1025 Words | 5 Pages

As a student in high school did you ever feel like the standardized test are helping you or making you get in to a better college? Have you ever thought about how many hours students and teachers spend preparing for the standardized test? Many hours and studying are being put into those test but are they really effective and are the test doing the students good in life? Standardized tests are really just to effective, teachers and students spend too much time on them and it’s not doing the students any good, and even it’s not doing the teachers any good. Standardized tests in schools today in Ohio should be stopped because they are causing for teachers to be evaluated by the test results of how the students do on the tests, they are having the students more stressed about school and do they benefit you in colleges and university and do they really look at how well students do on them test.

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

When students could be learning meaningful information, teachers are using up that time and giving them tests and exams. Although, we want to be blaming teachers, states and schools are supposed to give out mandatory tests. Who is to blame? According to washington article post, Valerie Strauss, says “The average student in America’s big-city public schools takes some 112 mandatory standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and the end of 12th grade — an average of about eight a year, the study says. ” The state is to blame.

Read More

More about Opt Out Standardized Testing

Related Topics

Open Document