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Standardized testing and its effects
Standardized testing and its effects
Standardized testing and its effects
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No one ever said school was easy. It takes quite a bit of hard work and preparation from both the students and teachers. All within a school year there are different homework, assignments, projects, tests, quizzes, presentations and much more to try and fit into an already busy course schedule. To add to that the Education Reform Law of 1993 was introduced to schools, which required that all public school students have to be tested in the subjects of English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science and Technology Engineering. Those set of tests are called Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and they are meant to measure students performance based on the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework.
Standardized testing not only stresses out students, but it also leads the teachers to go in a dilemma whether to focus on the curriculum or to get students ready for the standardized testing. No one has ever enjoyed taking a test in his or her entire educational history. Similarly Mr. Estrada’s 4th grade class was not every excited about taking standardized test. Each student has his or her own level of learning. As the students were taking the test, I noticed some students were panicking, while others were confused.
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.
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
Influences of the media on a Muslim-American For me, walking was equivalent to praying in my family. As I progressed from walking to running, I advanced from praying to reading the sacred texts of Islam. My daily life as a young inquisitive boy consisted of: praying five times a day, attending prayers at my local mosque, and filling my night with the words of the Qur’an. My parents, devout Shia Muslims, felt they held the responsibility of introducing this religious world and experience to my sister and me.
Despite the fact that the standardized tests might have a little relevance, they are very useless to us students. If you care anything about college, then why would you care about standardized testing? College doesn’t see your test scores. How do you expect the school boards to make us students take all these standardized tests they want to give us seriously, when they know that they have no meaning and so do the students. No one likes taking a recreational test anyway.
America is doing its students a disservice by assuming that the information they can gather from this test is worth the anxiety that the
Some older students who take these standardized tests don’t take them seriously. There is no point in trying to measure a group of student’s abilities if most of them aren’t even trying. In doing this, they would not get accurate data; therefore, wasting billions of dollars on testing. In 2004, many juniors in a high school in New Mexico just had fun with the tests because they didn’t count for anything.
Furthermore, most standardized tests are timed; those who know the answers, but are slower thinkers, are not able to complete the entire barrage of questions. This results in lower test
Do standardized tests infuriate you, or are you fine with them the way they are? Like most arguments, this has two sides; one side says that standardized tests are fine the way they are. The other side claims that the system isn’t a particularly good fit. I personally believe that the current testing system should be changed in a variety of ways. My first suggestion of change is that standardized tests are unfair and non-objective to students.
Testing though out schools in the United States is viewed as one of the most important aspects in determining whether or not a student is smart enough and has the learning capability to be successful in college. These tests that students have to take are meant to be equal for all students so that they can accurately be examined on there academic skill level; however, these test are not equal for all students because some of the students who take the test may have test anxiety; therefore, they will score lower than what they are actually capable of. As seen in this article written by Anya Kamenetz, who is lead education blogger at NPR, a former staff writer for Fast Company magazine, and a columnist for Tribune Media Services, and she is also the author of several books about education and technology, it can be seen that too much emphasis on these tests can be negative for the students, “A little bit of stress can be healthy and motivational. Too much, or the
Unfortunately, standardized testing only gives a rough estimate of what a student can do or knows. It is impossible to tell if a student will improve, or even tell if the student just guessed on all of their answers for the test. This explains how standardized tests do not measure the correct information that school’s are actually searching
According to Webster learning is the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skills by studying, being taught, or experiencing something. Kids are now being given standardized test such as the OLSAT, CogAT, Naglieri (NNAT), TAG, and GATE in kindergarten. There are five year olds going through test prep programs in order to get into schools for “gifted” kids. Some may argue that standardized test are reliable because they allow zero room for biases because all content is equivalent. However, this is not true.
Learning is supposed to interest the student and get them involved through activities and projects to find out what they enjoy and love. It’s not to temporarily memorize information in order to achieve higher classes, and better scholarships. There are more important things in education than a classes standardized test scores, and we need to be aware of the issues they may be
Standardized testing does not require much of an effort. These tests are checked by the computer thus, saving more time and since these tests are administered in the same manner, it would be easier for them to evaluate the test results because these tests have its own standards. These tests are also objective and are based by general-knowledge thus, making the test results unbiased and non-subjective. Educators will also be able to compare and evaluate a student’s progress over a period of time. These tests would show whether a student has performed well or not (OccupyTheory, 2014).
