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Standardized Tests Effectively Measure Student Achievement
Importance of standardized tests in schools
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A recent study showed the average number of hours spent testing and the average number of mandated tests given of 66 city school districts. “The heaviest testing load falls on the nation’s eighth-graders, who spend an average of 25.3 hours during the school year taking standardized tests, uniform exams required of all students in a particular grade or course of study. Testing affects even the youngest students, with the average pre-K class giving 4.1 standardized tests, the report found”
It is the summer of 1953 and Esther Greenwood, a college student, is living in New York and working at a month-long job as guest editor for a fashion magazine. As the novel opens, Esther worries about the electrocution of the Rosenbergs, a husband and wife who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and sentenced to death. She also worries about the fact that she cannot enjoy her job, her new clothes, or the parties she attends, despite realizing that most girls would envy her. Esther feels numb and unmoored, and thinks there is something wrong with her. She lives in the Amazon, a women’s hotel, with the other eleven girls who work as guest editors and with upper-class girls training to work as secretaries.
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.
Standard testing is a very controversial and important subject because it deals with the progression of the American education system. The practice of these assessments has been highly scrutinized not only for the way it has changed the format of classrooms, but also for its accuracy, pressure, and abundance. In 2001, standardized testing became federally mandated through the No Child Left Behind Act by former president George Bush Jr. According to research from the Council of the Great City Schools, students have been taking “an average of 113 tests from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade” (K. Hefling). These numbers have increased to the point where parents have opted for their children to not attend standardized exams.
Testing is around 115 years old; it started being taken seriously in academics in the early 1900s for the United States. Although it seems minor, standardized testing should not be a thing in any type of school because it causes physical and mental stress for students and teachers, causes a major financial strain in many schools, and takes time to complete and prepare for. Standardized
Numerous people argue that standardized testing is necessary and does not totally alter with the student’s basic school learning experience. Standardized tests are beginning to focus more on the wealthier students and discriminating against lower income families. According to
I. Students average 20-25 hours a year taking standardized testing, according to a study completed by the Council of Great City Schools. II. This testing is used for a variety of things, all of which affect the way we are educated. III. Through my research on testing, I have found that the tests that we have all sat through are not as accurate as one may think.
Obama Administration Calls for Limits on Testing in Schools On Saturday, the Obama administration declared that the push for testing in the nation’s public schools had gone too far, and urged schools to step back and make exams less onerous and more purposeful. Specifically, the administration called for a cap on assessment so that no child would spend more than 2 percent of classroom instruction time taking tests. A survey, also released Saturday, found that students in the nation’s big-city schools will take, on average, about 112 mandatory standardized tests between prekindergarten and high school graduation, adding up to eight tests a year. In eighth grade, when tests fall most heavily, they consume an average of 20 to 25 hours, or 2.3 percent of school time.
Standardized Testing hurts children who think in different ways. This is quoted by Valerie Strauss, who makes a great point by saying children can only learn by the way it 's taught and it cannot be learned from other sources. Standardized Testing limits what children can learn and how they learn. Schools also spend an extraordinary amount on testing that could be going to better education and more funding to arts and extracurricular activities. Although, some say standardized testing is beneficial to the way students learn, statistics show that this is simply not true, standardized testing adds unnecessary stress on students, suppresses their creativity, and limits the creativity of teachers.
Standardized testing has been used in the United States since the late 1800s to test students in the subjects they’ve been studying for an entire year and ultimately decide if they pass or fail the year based on the results of these tests. After the No Child left Behind Act the use of the standardized tests increased, but have only negatively affected students in their learning. Backlashes to standardized testing has increased from students, teachers, and parents who deem these tests useless and unnecessary to a child’s education since students are only “taught to test.” Standardized tests should be removed as they offer students no life skills, they cause stress to students and teachers, and they only benefit the multibillion dollar companies distributing these tests. While many people are against standardized tests, many individuals still support these tests.
This represents 2 percent of “required annual instructional hours.” This statistic demonstrates schools in the United States spend way to much time on standardized testing. This quote proves students spend too much time on test taking because there are a lot of valuable
Standardized tests are not helping the students of the United States of America and they should remove the mandatory tests students are forced to take. Throughout one’s education in the United States of America, a student is going to run into many standardized tests. This is the result of the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act that was signed by President George W. Bush in 2002. It was signed to give more responsibility to the government to educate the children of the United States of America. Underneath all the legal words, it meant that states must test students, from the third grade to the twelfth grade.
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.
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
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.
