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The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

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California citizens now confront a critical decision. Will we allow school children to be subjected to the child abuse that is disguised as high-stakes standardized tests? If we do, what will happen? I say we should not, because if we do we set ourselves up as tools of our own oppression.

High stakes standardized tests represent a powerful intrusion into classrooms, often taking up as much as 40% of teacher time. Those who wrote the tests are clear on this; it's their desire. They want to replace the mind of the teacher with the mind of the test-writers. The tests are meant to rupture the key relationship in educationa particular teacher meeting a unique student in a singular community. The tests set up a false employer-employees relationship between teachers and students which damages honest exchanges in the classroom Instead, the tests pretend that one standard fits all, when one standard does not fit all.

The tests measure, for the most part, parental income and race, and are therefore instruments which build racism and anti-working class sentiment--against the interest of most teachers, parents, and their students. …show more content…

If a child's literacy background does not match the test-writer's upper-middle-class background, the child loses. If the child does not feel good about the surroundings (as in Compton), the child loses. The tests are rigged from the start, but students and teachers who seek to creatively overcome them are set up as cheats. The exams represent an assault on academic freedom by forcing their way into the classroom in an attempt to regulate knowledge, what is known and how people come to know it. The high-stakes tests pretend to neutrality but are deeply partisan in

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Valerie Strauss is attempting to challenge schools who are offering incentives to students who participate in and take standardized tests. Writing this article at the height of standardized testing last spring, Strauss states that “as school districts around the country get ready to launch into their annual spring testing season, [incentivizing of testing] is happening again.” (Strauss) One main idea is that schools are using incentives to encourage students to take the standardized tests. Strauss cites Colorado and New York as major culprits, giving examples of elaborate rallies schools host in order to boost exam attendance and participation.

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In my opinion, public educational curriculums and accountability guidelines should be established at the state and local levels where parents/guardians play an integral role in the decision making process. I do not believe standardized tests alone are an accurate measure of a student’s knowledge; their classwork, projects, and literary works also represent a student’s talent and capabilities. In agreement with Robert Schaeffer, a representative for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, that federal mandated programs such as the No Child Left Behind and The Race to The Top high-stakes tests foster the temptation to cheat because they serve as means to both punish and reward students, teachers, and principals based solely upon test scores (Schaeffer,

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High Stakes Testing Pros And Cons

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As a result, some schools are finding it tough to score above average on these test giving teachers no option, but to focus solely on learning outcomes that meet high stake test requirements. Additionally, students with low test score were always pressured by their teacher to achieve high test, scores and when they did not produce higher results, some educator, believed, if they punished the student they would become more serious with schooling and work hard to avoid the pressure or humiliating punishments (Hurley, 2007). I used to be an advocate of high stakes testing, but now I oppose high stakes testing sine I have seen first hand myself the damage it does to a student. Also, I several educators and professional use high stakes test results as a single indicator for measuring a person's competence or determining their future outcome, even though research has proven these tests is highly

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High Stakes Testing Research Paper

549 Words | 3 Pages

As “Education week 's” Ron Wolk’s has said, “The system failed to educate them adequately, and now it punishes them for not being educated. " Ron Wolk is stating that with a school district failing to educate its students, these students have to pay the price by failing the test. High Stakes testing may also affect the district. Low scores could result in the reorganization of schools or a shift of resources to charter schools or private-school vouchers. Who knew that one test could severely damage a community and school

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1110 Words | 5 Pages

⦁ Students with Disadvantages and Disabilities: The textbook claims that critics believe high stakes testing disadvantages specific groups of students in relation to ethnicity, disibility, income, and language (Enz, Bergeron, & Wolfe 197). High stakes testing also increases the likelihood that at risk students will leave high school without a diploma, which may have an impact on their future economic success (Enz, Bergeron, & Wolfe. 197). These tests also hold all students accountable for the same knowledge, even if they have personal disabilities that may effect their test taking skills. For example, schools with a large amount of at risk students that are learning English will most likely have a harder time taking an all English high stakes test than a Caucasian student who has spent his entire life in America.

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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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769 Words | 4 Pages

The first is that these test encourages the teachers just to “teach the test”, but he ensures that, this is exactly what the teachers should be doing. The tests are measuring the proficiency

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The state tried to force this child, Ethan, to take this test. In the meantime while Andrea was fighting the school system, Ethan Rediske passed away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our children aren’t all dying of terrible diseases, but these standardized testing is killing our brothers and sisters creativity and passion for school instead. Standardized tests do not accurately measure what students know and what they can do, nor are they accurate predictors of future success

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Which puts a lot of stress on everyone. If you make a bad grade on these tests, you are brought to embarrassment and it can change your academic plan if you fail one of these tests. It puts stress on teachers to teach all the correct curriculum and to follow all the strict rules that they give them,

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This book analyzes the problem of acquiring standardized tests. It discusses where they originated, their limitations and flaws, what the point of taking them is, as well as what concerned parents and teachers can do. It discusses how schools seem to forget the fact that students go to school in order to learn the material which is presented to them, versus just going to pass a test or a class. It goes on to state the negative effects that produce from standardized testing. Testing on incorrect material, high stakes for cheating, and the fact that the tests may contain multiple errors are just a few of the many reasons provided for as to why standardized tests do more harm then good.

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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

885 Words | 4 Pages

True high-stakes standardized testing was begun in 2001, as part of the No Child Left Behind Act, which was put into place to help make it so that all children would have an equal opportunity to learn, regardless of their race, ethnic background or their families’ income level. While their goals sound admirable, the problem began with the implementation of the act; they wanted to ensure that each child was at least proficient in the standards that they developed, so they decided that testing was the best way to do so (Aske, Connelly & Corman, 2013). The issue with this is that not all students excel at test-taking, and putting so much emphasis on it can cause a student severe stress and anxiety (Colwell, 2013). In 2009, Race to the Top was implemented, but instead of placing less emphasis on testing and more on learning, it made the stakes worse, ensuring that schools that had students who did not perform as well could be shut down, or individual teachers could be fired if they did not show what was considered to be appropriate progress in test scores, which might soon prove impossible since the optimal goal is to reach a level of 100 percent of the students in a school to the proficiency level (Tavakolian & Howell,

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Teaching to the test is where teachers will teach students methods to use while taking these tests so that they might get higher scores. Unfortunately, many teachers are expressing that, “Their teaching morale has been lowered and that they felt guilty and embarrassed due to the accountability of high-stakes testing. Some teachers have reached a level of stress which has led to them moving out of the field of education due to negative experiences with high-stakes testing” (Dankiw, Johanson, Loder, and Watson). In the 2014 study Effects of High-Stakes Testing on Third through Fifth Grade Students: Student Voices and Concerns for Educational Leaders done by Carol E. Watson, Matthew Johanson, Megan Loder, and Julianne Dankiw in the Journal of Organizational Learning and Leadership, Watson, Johanson, Loder, and Dankiw examined the journals of a couple hundred third through fifth grade students at an Eastern Pennsylvania elementary school to understand what the students think about these tests and how does it make them feel. The results of the journal entries found that almost all of the students had grown fearful, anxious, and stressed about the tests, and some even began to become physically ill due to the high

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604 Words | 3 Pages

The aptitude tests generated in the early 1900’s were designed for white, influential white males. The case of Brown v. Board of Education may have been established to end segregation; however, it did not change the status of white privilege that still prevails today. The standards for all testing utilizes the whites for the standard to which all others should achieve. Knoester & Au (2017) found that whites “historically and presently monopolize political, economic, social and educational power.” As stated by Knoester & Au (2017) that if one is to believe that every student who is subject to take a standardized test there is an objective measurement then every student should be given a “color-blind and class blind, fair and equal shot at educational, social and economic

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1225 Words | 5 Pages

Subsequently, these tests are ruining countless intelligent people’s opportunities of being successful. Therefore, several students and teachers

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These tests are severely ruining schooling for these kids that are subjected to all these tests. Supporters say that we need all the tests in our schools. The supporters say that schools need the tests to help measure the achievement gap and to help teachers plan for the lessons and what to teach. The tests can’t help the teachers because the results aren't available until the next year, when the kids are already in the next grade.

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