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Standardized Testing In Schools Essay

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With standardization and common curriculum in education on the rise, it is making it a gray zone with subjects like art. To make matters more difficult, school districts are evaluating and paying teachers according to their student’s achievements (Goldstein). As a future art educator, it is important that I comprehend how to properly measure my student’s knowledge of the given art material. The biggest question is should the arts be standardized and how does one create quantitative data for a topic that is undeniable subjective? Testing the arts is controversial and subjective to whomever grades the assessments. Many parents are not on board with the idea as well; they do not favor the notion of testing children who are already over-tested in other subjects. Subjects, like art, are seen are relaxing breaks from a stressful school day. According to Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, implementing standardized tests in the arts is “fundamentally ludicrous”. He also urged that the assessments are not about application of the arts, but how students memorize and repeat the …show more content…

A paper from the National Endowment for the Arts found that there are only 30 high-quality arts assessments in use in the United States. Many schools are simply relying on pencil-and-paper exams to measure students’ knowledge (Goldstein). There are two prime solutions to the standardization of the arts. These assessments could be modified to include more application-based problems, instead of a regurgitation of the specialized language. An alternative analysis could be the submission of the students’ portfolio of work from the semester, instead of forcing a piece to be creating in one testing sitting. Either way, it is clear that not nearly enough schools are assessing the arts properly with high-quality

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In her article, Davidson explores our current educational system and its problem, she states “The problem, however, is the confusion of “high standards” with “standardization.” Our national educational policy depends on standardized tests, but it is not at all clear that preparing students to achieve high test scores is equivalent to setting a high standard for what and how kids should know and learn” (59). Despite excelling on these tests can be considered as overachieving or an elite quality, it does not however, test those skills that students may have acquired or are going to need to put into practice. Those standardized tests are also very limited and are not inclusive of other talents that a student might have. Just like the girl with the green hair in the middle school that Davidson visited, her artistic talents are never challenged or even considered by those educational standards.

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Meredith Broussard explains how standardized testing does not prove a child’s general knowledge nor creative in-depth thinking by stating, “Standardized tests are not based on general knowledge... they are based on specific knowledge contained in specific sets of books: the textbooks created by the test makers” (Broussard). Miner also states that standardized testing, “... leads to a dumbed-down curriculum that values rote memorization over in-depth thinking, exacerbates inequities for low-income students and students of color, and undermines true accountability among schools, parents, and community” (Miner). The assessment of a child should encourage a child to want to learn for the sake of learning. Alternative assessments could address a child’s development and learning process. These evaluations can determine why children are more likely to read behind grade level, instead of highlighting their inabilities.

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I realized the author was referencing my style of assessment when he described the traditional music teacher’s grading system. Since I teach grades 2-12 and much of my day is spent teaching very large class sizes, I tend to rely solely on visual and auditory formative assessments and base my summative assessments on overall effort, participation, and attendance at required performances. I am constantly making “mental notes” of how engaged and self-motivated individual students appear to be while we are preparing for upcoming events. This has left me with scoring and grading in a subjective manner. I do administer written tests relating to music theory, instrument families, music history, and composers, but much of my students’ final grades result in their daily participation and effort based on individual patterns and trends throughout the class period.

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Creativity is the source of all things, and it helps students express themselves. So, why are schools limiting students by giving them standardized tests that don’t prove their worth and cutting educational programs such as music and art? As Ravitch calls attention to this necessity in his essay, “Every school should have the resources to enable students to express their individuality or to take pleasure in joyful activities”(112). The resources Ravitch is talking about are advanced classes, moderate class sizes, art programs, and physical education to list a few. However, when schools only receive funding from standardized tests schools are forced to put all of their already limited money into math and english.

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There is a large amount of pressure put onto each and every student, it all comes down to one standardized test your junior or senior year of high school. These tests do not measure the ability to think creatively because it is a way which students are answering the same type of question under the same condition. Unfortunately, standardized testing is linked to a specific grade level and is not a good way to determine a student’s capability to perform. “Math, reading, and to a lesser extent, science are the only subjects regularly tested, students are drilled in these topics.” This is not a benefit to the student who is stronger in other subjects such as history, music, and art.

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The article entitled “The effects of high-stakes testing on elementary school art, music, and physical education.” was written for the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance in 2002. This article discusses the effects that art, music, and physical education (AMPE) have on an elementary schoolers ability to perform well on a standardized measure of learning. This article showed the effects on elementary schools in Virginia and how well students performed on the Virginia’s Standards of Learning tests (SOL). This article is applicable to elementary education because teachers can observe the effect AMPE have on children and use that to adapt their teaching style, even if they are not teaching AMPE. The article is effective in its purpose

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Some students don’t take standardized tests seriously because it doesn’t affect their grades. These students don’t understand that by not taking these tests seriously, they are lowering their chances of getting accepted to colleges. In 2004, an English teacher at New Mexico’s Valley High School said that many 11th grade students just “had fun” with the tests, and that the students made patterns when filling in the answers on the

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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.

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Why does the system cheat the youth of today that are supposed to run our future tomorrow? Evidence shows that standardized testing removes creative outlets for students because funding goes to the test and not courses the students need for educational development. According to Alfie Kohn, an author and lecturer in education and many other areas state that “The time, energy, and money that are being devoted to preparing students for standardized tests have to come from somewhere. Schools across the country are cutting back or even eliminating programs in the arts, recess for young children, electives for high schoolers, class meetings, discussions about current events, the use of literature in the early grades, and entire subject areas such as

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Students need assessment that is balanced between what they already know, and what teachers want them to know. Rather than a test with the same questions, even if the questions are leveled differently for all students, the questions should address where a student is struggling, so that each and every American schoolchild would have the chance to reach their full

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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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Standardized testing has become one of the most popular types of testing in U.S. public schools to date. Students take numerous standardized tests throughout their childhood schooling. (Studies show that a typical student takes an average of 112 mandated standardized tests between Pre-K and 12th grade.) While standardized testing is one of the main procedures that Universities use to judge incoming students, it is not proven to be the most effective way to convey a student’s actual intelligence level. The U.S. should not focus so heavily on standardized testing because it is not a complete accurate measurement of a student’s intelligence.

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They know this because they tested children that had and didn't have fine arts and they told the students to list out all they ways you know how to solve the equation. The students that didn't take fine arts only put 1way to solve the problem, but the students that have taken the fine art listed more than 1 way to find the answer. Another reason many schools dint have fine arts... bad budgeting. According to Whitehouse.gov the government the U.S. budget for education has when down 10.5% since 2017.

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In schools all around the nation, students are taking mandatory standardized tests. To some people, they are the dreaded tests that they never want to take. However, others love to take these standardized tests. Should these tests be mandatory in all high schools? I don 't believe so for many different reasons.

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