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The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

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The accountability of teachers has become muddled since the idea of standardized testing became the number on issue. Teachers are now assessed, not on merit, but how well their students can take a test. This has caused teachers to become lazy and only teach to the test, so they can get money. Teachers no longer seem to focus on if the students learn and enjoy school as long as they do good on the state testing. This is a major issue and for these reasons I believe teacher assessment and countability needs changing. Throughout my school career I have been to a private school, public school, and a charter school. Out of all three experience I have to say that the best learning environment was when the idea of taking a state test was not being …show more content…

According to Douglas B. Reeves, author of Accountability for Learning (2004), “the proponents of high-stakes testing are wrong when they presume that they can evaluate teaching effectiveness solely on the basis of test scores” (p. 49). Essentially, teachers can not be evaluated based on how well students can take a test. Although teachers believe this is all that matters, they need to learn to become accountable for themselves. They need to understand that they are teaching students who need to learn. Teachers should not put so much pressure on students when this test does not actually do anything for the students, all it does it show how well a teacher has taught, or how well a students can take a test. If an educated professional pushed a state standardized test all year long students will not learn, they will only learn how to take and study for one test. It is time that teachers become accountable for what they are teaching. They need to stop putting so much pressure on students for their personal benefits. A teacher needs to start being accountable not only for a test score but for everything else in the classroom. Reeves (2004) says it best when he writes, "their [teachers] value is determined by the performance of students on those tests; the teachers’ actions in the classroom, their design of curriculum, and the decisions of their leaders are all irrelevant” (p. 15). Teachers are responsible for not only the test, but also their actions, what is taught and how it is taught, and deciding whether they will follow others or make their own path. In order to make a difference, teachers first need to become

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522 Words | 3 Pages

The current form of teacher accountability, is well known, but has little support. The system we have adapted to, judges our teachers and views them as simple minded. Tucker points out in the report, Fixing Our National Accountability Problems, that having standardized tests judging our teachers is not giving students a better education. Nocera uses Tucker’s quote: “There is no

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654 Words | 3 Pages

There are so many challenges facing teachers today, including classroom management, the breakdown of families, rising state and federal standards, increasing expectations for schools and their staff, and the ever- changing job market. None of the challenges I can think of solely affect Texas teachers. When talking to my fellow educators both here in Texas and in other regions of the country, many of them seem to agree that government- mandated standardized testing and government imposed academic standards are the stem of our most major challenges. It is not, in fact, the existence of state standards and testing, it is how they are administered and how the results are used. In general, it has been my experience, that many teachers acknowledge

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1030 Words | 5 Pages

In order for teachers to do their jobs, they need educational tools. However, in many large school districts, they “lack important teaching tools, such as computers and up-to-date textbooks” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). As a result of this, teachers are held accountable for the success/failure of standardized test. On the upside, both jobs are generally independent work without the supervision of a higher ranking individual within the field.

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662 Words | 3 Pages

Holding School districts, teachers, and students accountable through the process of standardized testing has not improved the nation’s educational status, but worsened it. Students are now being “taught to the test” , and instead of acquiring knowledge they are acquiring the

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985 Words | 4 Pages

The facts supporting this include : teachers teaching to the test, the amount of stress put on the students and staff, student performance, and impersonal testing. To begin with, standardized testing causes teachers to “ teach to the test”. Many teachers across the US feel the need for their students to succeed on standardized

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462 Words | 2 Pages

Teachers should be able to teach students, not for the sake of passing an exam, but for the sake of expanding their existent knowledge. There are many students in the state of Texas, as well as the entire nation, that have had their potential overlooked because they did not meet the expectations of standardized testing. Although students are indeed placing emphasis on higher scores for a standardized test, they apparently do not retain the information long enough to make a lasting effect on their knowledge. This is according to a 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution which found that 50-80% of year-over-year test score improvements were temporary and "caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in

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483 Words | 2 Pages

One of the arguments about state testing is how state standardized tests affect the amount of money that school is given based on how many students pass. The more students who pass the test help get the school more money and the more students who fail prevent the school from getting the money it needs.  Standardized tests exist for administrative, political, and financial purposes, not for educational ones. Because the amount of kids passing or lack thereof affects the amount of money that school is funding, that becomes the sole priority for these teachers and/or administrators

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730 Words | 3 Pages

Standardized tests are said to be the easiest and most efficient way to determine if teachers have taught standards and whether or not students have met standards, but the tests are not a fair measurement. According to Popham, “Employing standardized achievement tests to ascertain educational quality is like measuring temperature with a tablespoon. Tablespoons have a different measurement mission than indicating how hot or cold something is. Standardized achievement tests have a different measurement mission than indicating how good or bad a school/teacher is.” There is too much room for error to determine if a teacher is considered “good” or “bad.”

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1718 Words | 7 Pages

Since the No Child Left Behind Act was mandated in 2002, test scores in our schools have steadily declined. In spite of this, proponents argue that standardized testing is an objective and effective method to measure student achievement and to hold teachers accountable. Unfortunately, this is the farthest thing from the truth. Standardized tests are neither fair nor effectual, there overuse and misuse promotes a narrow curriculum which forces teachers to "teach to the test" instead of teaching to the student. This instruction style inhibits creativity and undermines our country's ability to produce innovators and critical thinkers.

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1024 Words | 5 Pages

test makers are for-profit organizations. It’s an easier way to evaluate a student or a teacher. Educational success should be measured by a student’s talent, effort and their performance. Every classroom should have a well-educated, professional teacher, and school systems should recruit, prepare, and retain teachers who are qualified to do the job. Yet in practice, American public schools generally do a poor job of systematically developing and evaluating teachers.

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1048 Words | 5 Pages

So when students fail the grade or curriculum because they can’t quite reach the standards of the test, not only does the child suffer but the school itself suffers as well. Students across the globe study and work hard all year long to be successful in life, but the pressure of one test failing them, brings them stress and ruins not only their goals of graduating on time, but it also brings down their self - esteem. This idea of a standardized test defeats the purpose of attending to school one hundred and eighty days a year for 12 or more

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601 Words | 3 Pages

Most educators do not really understand why a standardized test provides a misleading estimate of a school staff effectiveness.” Not to mention, these test can hurt teachers to! For an example, if a teacher has ten kids and seven of those ten fail, the teacher can have consequences and as harsh as being fired! Is that really necessary?

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2594 Words | 11 Pages

(JACKIE)In every state, there are specific standards that must be met by each school district that reassures the state that each student is progressing further in their education. Standardized testing is the way the state has set up a method to check students abilities and to make sure they are ready to advance to the next grade. However, because of these tests, teachers are limited on what they can teach and often times must strictly go by the state standards of teaching. Standardized testing should be removed from state curriculum because it causes teachers to go by the books, which makes them less likely to feel passionate about what they are teaching since the state came up with what they must make the students learn. (MARY)Having Standardized

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567 Words | 3 Pages

If all we do is get students ready to take tests they will not be ready for the real world. Teachers shouldn't be rewarded or punished for this because it isn't a precise way to measure their skill. The tests which cost billions of dollars are famous for making big time consuming errors. NCS Pearson, which has a $254 million contract to administer Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test, delivered the 2010 results more than a month late and their accuracy was challenged by over half the state's superintendents(Valerie Strauss, "New Test Scoring Problems for Pearson,” Washington Post, July 19, 2010).

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925 Words | 4 Pages

“Teachers often don’t have time to teach the content they should because standardized testing has changed the way instruction takes place in a classroom. Many teachers acknowledge that they ‘teach to the test’” (“The Tornadic Effect of Standardized Testing”). Teachers are spending too much time preparing students for standardized tests that they don’t get to teach the actual curriculum. Students begin to lack the educational skills they need because teachers have to set aside lessons to improve testing scores.

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