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Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

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Say No To Standardized Testing (Rough Draft) On average, students are given 113 standardized tests from their kindergarten through their senior year, most of them being given in the 11th grade year. “‘In some places, tests — and preparation for them — are dominating the calendar and culture of schools and causing undue stress for students and educators.’” (“Testing: How Much Is Too Much?”) The cause of all of this testing is simple: The No Child Left Behind Act. Though the No Child Left Behind Act was noble in theory, it has proven to be extremely ineffective and done the complete opposite of what it was intended to do.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was an act passed in 2001; generally, it was supposed to “raise achievement and close …show more content…

All their years of school, they are drilled in algebra, calculus, world history, European history, biology, chemistry, until their brains feel they are going to explode. But will that help them in the future? Most likely not. And is not the point of school to prepare a student for their future? And it is not like the teachers are to blame, it is the funding. The funding gained from standardized tests is poured into core classes. Though all knowledge is valuable, some knowledge is more valuable to to …show more content…

Often, instead of receiving praise where praise is needed, a student will receive feedback on what they could have done better, or scolding if they did not pass. A growing mind requires praise so that they know they have done well and feel accomplished and desire to continue to do well for themselves. An often over-looked issue within school systems is that a student is told to succeed for the school, not for oneself as a student. Instead of being told to do better so that the school can look better, a student should be awarded when they do well so that they will want to help better their own education, not the ratings of the school. Similarly, whenever a student is berated constantly, they will often give up. Few people are determined to well and try and improve if they are only told when they mess

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The values they set into the education system no longer interest students. The students are, however, finding that they can look up to those who did not apply themselves to education, and are getting the wrong concept of

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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde In Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll, a distinguished, handsome, and admirable doctor, Dr. Henry Jekyll, experiments good and evil within himself. In life we all have good in ourselves as well as evil. In Dr. Jekyll’s case, he is both 100% good and 100% evil.

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This helps focus on the problem and build upon personal effort and effective strategies for the future. The difference between those who are helpless and give up and those who strive to learn lie in people’s definition of why they failed. Some people wish to succeed while others would rather give up because it’s easier. A study from the University of Illinois showed that persistent students do not sulk in their failure, but they make it a mission to solve the problem. This takes us back to the idea of bringing up children with a growth mind-set.

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Since 2006, overall SAT scores have dropped by 21 points. It is safe to say that the increase in standardized testing has done more bad than good. When standardized testing became more prominent, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) saw a plateau in reading and math scores. Additionally, the NAEP saw no further closure in the test score gap. The test score gap affects all minorities.

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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

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They argue that the higher education standards are those that need to be met in order to help prepare high school students for college and careers. These proponents of Common Core acknowledge the faults with America’s schools seeing that “they could be more effective in preparing kids for the new, global economy and the ever-growing rigors of higher education,” (McKenna). At the same time, they also believe that Common Core can help to achieve this. They believe as Michael Petrilli states, that with Common Core comes these higher standards that will also lead to better tests to measure these higher standards (“Embrace the Common Core”). With these new standards and tests there is expected to be higher rates of success for those high school graduates going into college or straight into a career.

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There are also much better ways to test a student’s capability to learn; a 2006 Center on Education Policy conducted a study and found that a curriculum that follows state standards and uses the test data as feedback led to higher scores than those that prioritized test-taking skills. When teachers are more focused on teaching material rather than test strategies, their students benefit from it (“Do Standardized Tests Show an Accurate View of Students’ Abilities?”). Several alternative methods to state assessments for measuring a student’s academic success include comparing high school graduation rates and the number of dropouts, offering advanced placement courses, and looking at the percentage of the former students that are admitted to colleges. State assessments are more harmful than helpful to students; they are a large cause of test anxiety and a majority of teachers can never fully prepare their students. Although state assessments are an easy way to be able to see the growth of students, that does not mean that they are the best

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All our teachers do is prepare us for tests and not life skills. When we step out into the big world, we don’t even know how to do the little objectives in life such as paying bills. Schools should start teaching us the things that we actually use later in life and not useless

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The American College Testing Program Assessment (known to most simply as the ACT) is a standardized test that is used by colleges to determine if one meets the required standards of that school, which then leads to the individual's acceptance or denial. The ACT not only determines your future for college choices, but it will also dictate how much money you will receive from the university in potential scholarships. The scores range from 1-36, with potentially scoring one point higher, could mean thousands of dollars toward scholarships. What most people do not realize is how biased, inaccurate and unfair the ACT actually is ("The ACT: Biased, Inaccurate, and Misused," 2007).

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According to Celine Coggins, “The debate on testing is an important one, but debating time devoted to testing without a discussion of test type and content misses the point” (Coggins 23). Time committed to standardized tests, as a matter of fact, might be a more critical controversy than the material included within them. James Popham says, “It has become increasingly apparent during the last decade that many standardized achievement tests are instructionally insensitive; they are unable to discern the differences between students taught effectively and students taught ineffectively” (Popham 5). Students spend hours, days, and years of their education preparing for certain tests even though these tests are not an accurate representation of their intelligence. Schools should reevaluate how they spend their time; less time toward test prep, more time spent towards improving

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A lot of students are not receiving the education that they could because of the testing. ”(Dianis High-Stakes Testing Hasn’t Brought Education Gains). Standardized tests have almost eliminated the education that students need to receive. The students in of this generation should have the same opportunity to learn and develop themselves into contributing adults of society. Without proper knowledge, there could be an increase in poverty because the students were not able to meet their test requirements which could limit or take away scholarships.

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The average American student takes about 112 standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and 12th grade (Strauss). A standardized test is any form of test that requires the student to answer the same selection of common questions in a consistent matter, which makes it possible to compare relative student performance. Standardized tests restrict creativity, waste time, and waste money. We should get rid of standardized tests in our school system. Standardized tests limit a student’s ability to express creativity.

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Reagan Tidmore Mrs. Farrah Hayes English 101 12 November 2017 Are ACT scores necessary for college application? Have you ever heard of anyone saying they enjoyed the ACT or that they felt as though they did amazing on it? No one has. Whenever a student walks into a testing room they should go in feeling prepared and confident in their knowledge. Whenever a student applies to college they should do so with joy because they are starting a new chapter of their lives.

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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

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If a student were to fail a course or grade level, said student should be made to retake the course or grade level with extra help and guidance. If a student is thought to be at risk for low self-esteem caused by retention, they should be given the option of academic or social counseling. Pushing a child forward when they’re unprepared is unacceptable. Social promotion is causing a bigger issue than retention.

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