Increasingly today in America’s school system, there is a recognition of tension between individuality and conformity. The struggle between students’ personal needs and the needs of the whole continues to grow. This can be seen though the controversial issue of standardized testing. These are tests that are designed in a way, which are administered and recorded in a consistent method. In standardized testing, all test takers are required to answer the same set of multiple-choice, true or false questions, short answer, and essay questions. Standardized testing is usually used to compare the performance of individuals in a relative manner. Many people consider standardized testing as an objective way of grading a student, however, it is evident …show more content…
The growing minds of scholars in elementary, middle and high school should be exposed to a more creative system of measuring education. When reflecting on the current state of testing, John Holt states, “And so, in this dull and ugly place, where nobody ever says anything very truthful, where everybody is playing a kind of role, as in a charade, where teachers are no more free to respond honestly to the students than the students are free to respond to the teachers or each other” (E) This reflection on America’s education system represents the controlling and ineffective tactics. Students and teachers have confirmed to an unnatural fruitless environment including standardized testing. This demonstrates the effects of attention away from the needs of an individual. Secondly, on a design for a book about how to prepare kinder gated students for standardized testing, it shows images of pencils, clocks and a slip of paper including four answer bubbles. (C) This perfectly shows the controlling and rigid structure of the timing, the testing and the organization of standardized testing. The boxes of questions lead students into problems and stifles creativity. Lastly, many SAT, ACT, and other standardized tests contain specific questions to study for, forcing a student to think within the guidelines of the tests. These tactics and current states of tAmerican school systems represent the …show more content…
It creates an obsession with test scores as a chief “accountably” metric for students, educators and schools. This system has led to the exams becoming an end instead of a means to an end. For instance, according the Joh Holt, within the learning environment “the air practically vibrates with suspicion and anxiety, the child learns to live in a daze, saving his energies for those small parts of his life that are too trivial for the adults to bother with, and thus remain his.” (E) This represents the crucial and harsh environment students experience when facing tests. It puts unnecessary stress on the minds of students and degrades their self worth into nothing. These systems of compulsory secondary schools can all too often resemble prisons.” (A) “It is a rare child who can come through his schooling with much left of his curiosity, his independence or his sense of his own dignity, competence and worth.” (E) The standardized testing system evidently shows the negative effect on the morale of the students. It produces gripping anxiety on even the brightest students, and make young students sick or fearful of failure. Major high schools within the New York City region have records of suicide from over work and the negative effects of the standardized system. While standardized tests are used for college applications, it puts an unfair obsession that only the SAT and ACT determine the success of a student. This creates
1,2: For my issue, I plan on addressing the controversy of standardized testing. I believe there would be differing opinions in the audience, some supporting and disagreeing with the topic. Most, if not all students have taken some form of standardized testing, thus, establishing a wide variety of viewpoints. While some believe this form of testing accurately measures a student’s achievement, others think it is an unreliable measure of a student’s performance. 3
In identifying why these standardized tests exist, the hope is to generate a metric which will be used to analyze whether the current standardized testing system is sufficient and identify both areas of strength and weakness. The ultimate hope is to answer the question, “What is the purpose of state-mandated standardized tests for public elementary and middle schools, and how well to they fulfill this purpose,” and by doing so, improve standardized
The idea that one test can accumulate all of one student’s academic abilities is no longer accurate. Today, the standardized tests that are used not only discriminate against the non wealthy families, it also is not an accurate reading of all of one’s abilities in and out of school. The tests also have become such a huge focus in the classroom that it is beginning to take away the process of learning in a classroom and being replaced with memorization to get good test scores. The standardized tests do not need to disappear all together, however the tests need a lot of revising if the states continue to use them as they do
Today I will talk about how standardized tests should be modified. I will be talking about how standardized tests are taking up too much class time and they need to be shorter. Standardized tests should be shorter they take up too much time and children have no fun at all with just worrying about the test. Standardized tests take all the fun out of a child's day. This essay will persuade the reader the the government needs to modify the test’s because they are taking up too much time, they are sucking the joy out of children because they have to worry about the tests, and that the test just repeats what they already tested on.
Why We Should Kill Standardized Testing Standardized testing: the nightmare of every student’s school year. There are many problems with the state using standardized testing as a measure of a student’s success in the classroom. One of these reasons is that some students are just not good test-takers. People are still not realizing the problems with standardized testing, as in the US, all 50 states require students to take these tests. Standardized tests are not just a worry for students, they are also an inconvenience to teachers.
Credibility Statement Preview: First, I will discuss the problems with standardized testing in our education system. Then, I will present a solution to this problem, and finally, I will explain the benefits of eliminating standardized testing. BODY Problem: Standardized testing has been a fixture in the American education
All students dread one thing when it comes to school - testing. Standardized test are the main focus in our school systems instead of actually gaining knowledge at the end of the year. As a mother, Michelle Rhee, understands the lack of attention given on education as a whole instead of just waiting on the scores, but she still agrees on continuing with standardized test. Kristina Rizga opposes the opinion of Michelle Rhee as she does not believe standardized test truly measure the intelligence of a student. Kristina Rizga proves her stand against standardized test by utilizing solid use of argumentation.
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.
Over two hundred parents claim to not let a student go through standardized testing. The earliest records of standardized testing come from China, for the subjects of philosophy and poetry. America “copied” the European education system. In the early 20th century, immigrants took “standardized tests”. To determine possible career and where each person stood socially.
Introduction Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of educational purposes. For example, they may be used to determine a young child’s readiness for kindergarten, identify students who need special-education services or specialized academic support, place students in different academic programs or course levels, or award diplomas and other educational certificates. Thesis Statement Standardized tests should not be eliminated completely, but should rather be evaluated in addition to other factors such as grades, extracurricular activities, and volunteer hours. This would take pressure off of students during standardized tests, allow colleges to see how well-rounded the students are, and give students who are better in other areas
Mya Jensen Mr. Garbe English 102 11 April 2023 Test Stress In the past decade, stress in teens has been on the rise. Although many factors cause teens stress, one of the largest stressors is standardized testing. Stress caused by standardized testing can lead to many other negative impacts such as health problems, declining academic performance, and more. Recently, some alternatives to standardized testing have been put in place that work just as well, and some better than, standardized testing.
The importance and value placed on high-stakes testing in some US states is actively affecting retention and dropout rates, which will undoubtedly impact affected students’ livelihoods. Students in the bottom 20% in states with high-stakes testing were 25% more likely to drop out of high school than their peers in states without high-stakes testing (Jacob, 2001, as cited in Amrein and Berliner, 2003). According to Amrein and Berliner, 88% of the states with high school graduation exams have higher dropout rates than states without the exams. These increasing dropout rates will be harmful to students’ career goals and decrease overall learning. Not only are students dropping out of high school as a result of high-stakes testing, but some are also being forced to repeat a grade.
The Downfall of Standardized Testing Adccording to a recent report, “42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science, and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses” (“ACT Test Scores” par. 3). In 2022, “ACT scores were at an average of 19.8, which were the lowest they had been in 30 years” (“ACT Test Scores” par. 1). The school system has failed students by allowing teachers to “teach the test” rather than teach students how to understand and comprehend the material. Therefore, standardized tests are an unfair way to measure a student’s academic performance because of outside factors, the impacts of high-stakes testing,
\Cizek, (2022), argues that high stakes testing has led to a "cultural shift in education, from a focus on teaching and learning to a focus on testing and accountability". He suggests that this shift has been detrimental to both teachers and students, as it has reduced the flexibility and creativity of instruction and led to a greater emphasis on rote memorization. Researcher reported that an assessment method that is used to make important decisions about students, teachers, and schools. They indicated that the pressure to perform well on these tests can lead to high levels of stress among teachers, which can in turn affect their job satisfaction and performance (Al-Musawi & Anderson, 2022).
While standardized testing can offer valuable data about a student's academic progress, it is important to consider the potential drawbacks of relying solely on test scores to evaluate student achievement (Tunnell). In particular, standardized testing may not accurately reflect a student's true level of competency or potential for future success, particularly for students with learning disabilities or other challenges. In conclusion, standardized testing has become an integral part of the American education system but remains controversial. While supporters of standardized testing contend that it offers an objective assessment of student learning and growth in the education