The topic of standardized testing has been a hot topic in education for a number of years now. Although we only take a few days every school year to conduct these tests they come across as time consuming. However, if we look at the percentages we will find that the testing itself only occupies a small portion of our time. Even if we take a full 10 days out of our school year to conduct testing then we are only occupying 5.6% of the school year to administer these tests. I personally feel that it is the preparation process that most find unsavory as it occupies a much larger percentage of classroom time and usually requires commitments involving evenings and weekends. Why do we spend so much time on preparation? As my colleagues have stated above, these tests …show more content…
ETS, a global leader in standardized testing, defines accountability in standardized testing as a means to hold various levels of the education system responsible for test results that indicate if students learn what they should have learned. A system can be defined as a group of related parts that move or work together. When and why did individual teachers become accountable for these results? Could this be a reason as to why various sources have written about how teacher morale is at its lowest point in 20-25 years? Programs such as the “Race to the Top” initiative coerce states to use student standardized test scores to evaluate teachers even though the exams were never intended for this purpose and the results are not reliable indicators a teacher’s effectiveness. This “test and punish” approach to teacher evaluation has caused some schools and districts to ignore other factors affecting student achievement such as poverty and socioeconomic status. As a result, many teachers have become disillusioned with the time spent preparing students for, and administering, tests. In many instances this has led to schools to adopt a culture of cheating that has been directly linked to the pressure to raise test