Standardized testing has had a growing emphasis in this country. “A typical student takes 112 mandated standardized tests between pre-kindergarten classes and 12th grade, a new Council of the Great City Schools study found. By contrast, most countries that outperform the United States on international exams test students three times during their school careers. ” (Washinton post) School systems now are getting so caught up in these different tests, they are forgetting the real core of what they should be teaching in school, and how they should be going about teaching students. Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble,” Obama said in a video released on Facebook.
“So we’re going to work with states, school districts, teachers and parents to make sure that we’re not obsessing about testing. ” Not saying all testing is bad, it has been a positive enforcement to make sure our teachers are accountable to help students improve. But, Now the states are making several different tests that the teachers are taking more time to focus on the test and forgetting the basic learning aspect of school.
Between preK and 12th grade students take about 112 standardized exams, this is a good indication of the time allotted solely for testing and not focusing on the value of learning. These tests are only testing a child’s performance on one day while some children do not perform well on tests at all. Many students develop test anxiety which can cause a decline in their performance. As well as that, Teachers are under huge amount of pressure to make sure there students are ready for hese exams, and they can’t control the extra variable affecting their students, such as test anxiety. We should not be testing on a child’s performance for of a test that is taken one day but their growth throughout the whole year. The pressure of these tests can have a negative impact on students and teachers alike. All the pressure and stress that kids receive and hear from the teachers, as well as the school authorities impact their performance on these tests. They see how big of a deal this can and that causes them to be much more nervous.
This can have negative impact on children’s social, emotional, and academic well-being. This issue not only affects your average student, but has even more of an impact on children coming from low income families and children who have disabilities. These particular students have a lack of parental support or lack of ability to perform at their highest capability. This causes a higher percentage of these students to not finish their schooling in the future. They need to come up with new method of evaluation the students and teachers without making it about the test scores.
There needs to be a balance between how important the tests are compared to using your best devices to allow students to grasp the subjects they are learning. Standardized test have been around since the 1800’s. They have become more of higher use since the No Child Left Behind Act mandated annual testing in all 50 states. The tests often have multiple-choice questions that can be quickly graded by automated test scoring machines. Some tests also incorporate open-ended questions that require human grading, which is more expensive, though computer software is being developed to grade written work also.
If the students don’t pass there are not only consequences for the students but for the teachers. There are various other ways to evaluate what the students have learned and how well the teachers are teaching. To test the performance on teachers and the children one way could be sampling, which would be having less test and a random sample children take. You could even use an approach like taking a variety of different sources to see the performance. This could include, taking things like graduation rates and teacher assessments and putting those numbers together to assess them.
Then you won’t be just testing a child’s knowledge from one day of taking a test, and taking a total of different and seeing the performance overall. These tests are not only taking away just the importance of learning in school and shaping the learning to what the test will be, but children are missing out on other aspects of the school system. Some schools are so worried about their scores they take time away from recess and activities. Teachers are so pressured about their test scores rising they try and change the curriculum to match what they need to know for the test.
In addition to teachers being pressured to change their curriculum. There is difficulty on whether certain material will benefit them on the standardized test, and if not they just throw that information out. Some teachers are teaching their kids exactly what you should know at that grade level well the standardize test, tests the students on completely different matter that the children have no idea. This is such a big deal at some schools teachers were even trying to boost their kids scores and cheat.
Children worry so much about all these tests, and some don’t get the same accommodations as they usually would. When you are on an IEP you need special help to finish tests but on these test they get fewer the help on these test. ???? Since the No Child Left Behind Act was created there has been an even more importance put on standardized testing. They aren’t only used to grade the intelligence of students at schools but they are also used as a tool to set apart economic status and wealth. It is unjust to use these test for those reason. It hurts some schools paying for these tests.
With so much value placed on testing, much of the budget in schools has gone to test preparation materials rather than resources planned to better a student’s learning. This act doesn’t show if children are really learning or not. They are being passed on whether they pass or not. If they don’t pass they continue to the next grade and are? put in classes that allow them to focus on the things they miss on the test. This all goes back to children who don’t test well are being punished for not knowing or being nervous during these test. States are giving the opportunity to make the tests how they want them.
Which means each state is giving totally different test, so is it fair to even be comparing them? The solution to this problem would be easy. First off cutting back on how many test these children are taking. Also, we should not be comparing the individual child’s score and comparing it to the whole on how the other kids are doing. They should be testing maybe twice a year, solely for the purpose to see if the individual is improving his or her education. This will then tell us how much the kids are learning and the ability of the teachers teaching.
The test should be based on the curriculum so teachers don’t have too much on there plate and have to teach a ton of stuff in one semester. This type of assessment will them focus more on the quality of the learning. Frederick Douglass would be against this testing and want to get rid of it. Fred was a slave and valued the little education he got. He would think that these test are taking the real importance of education and learning. Standardized testing is a form of slavery almost because it is the only way schools can continue to receive national funding.
Adam Smith would also be against this testing because he himself was a teacher at one point. He would understand the pressure of what all these teachers nowadays are going through. And the measures they will go to make sure they make their scores go up. They both would agree it is unjust to test someone’s knowledge just from one day of taking a test. I would agree completely these test are not the right way to go about this and the government and school systems are putting too much emphasis on these test.
I think they should make less of a big deal about the test, and more about the learning and what school is about. To conclude this argument, I would say the theorist are against this issue. Also now Obama is now currently reforming it. He is meeting with teachers to figure out a way to fix this and make it better. He is looking for ways to allow for a more accurate and fair evaluation of the students and teachers. “Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble. ” said Obama.