Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Standardized Testing, as you know, is a technique used in schools across America to measure student growth and whether teachers and schools are educating their students the way that society considers to be correct. State mandated pre-tests, state exams, and state mandated post-tests are just a few examples of the standardized testing. Standardized testing has proven to be unsuccessful time and again, yet the technique is still used frequently. Standardized tests are very stressful and very time consuming. In fact, an unhealthy amount of stress has been put on students and educators in the recent years. While researching this subject, I found that almost all of my sources had a statement showing that teachers are being forced to teach to the test. The teachers dont want to teach us the same basic things every year, but if they dont, students will be unsuccessful in the exams, leading to major consequences. One teacher wrote The school and all of its teachers and administrators are graded by New York State. Our test results for ELA, math, and science determine much of our success as a school. Some schools across America have failed to meet the standards, resulting in students being held back, teachers and administrators losing their jobs, and schools being shut down. Studies have shown that excessive amounts of testing have led to students losing their creativity and their ability to think outside the box. One of my relatives scored a very high two on the New York State ELA exam last year. She is a solid student- she never failed a test. But because of this one grade, she was unable to join her schools choir because she is getting extra help that she doesnt need. It is a proven fact that students who are actively involved in music programs do better in school than students who dont participate in music. Why is she being taken away from learning to review something that she clearly understands? Standardized tests have a long history of errors and misconceptions, as well. Although the large companies that write the tests, such as Pearson Education, try to keep the test from being biased, they are almost always unsuccessful. One of the biggest errors that has occurred in the world of standardized testing was in April, 2012 on the New York State eighth grade English Language arts exam. Students were baffled by the multiple choice questions that went with the article The Hare and the Pineapple, by Daniel Pinkwater. New York State included this article and the multiple choice questions in the annual exam, even though students in Illinois, Arkansas, Delaware, and Alabama were baffled by the same questions that were on earlier exams. Deborah Meirer, the founder of the New York City Progressive Central Park East Schools said Even the most intelligent students can often over think an answer and get it incorrect. Standardized tests are considered to be unreliable because an individuals score will change on a day to day basis. Some factors that can affect the changing score include the testing conditions and the test takers mental, emotional, or physical state. Billions of dollars have been put into standardized testing. Most people would ask where this money comes from. The answer is clearly written all over Americas schools. The money comes from the salaries of teachers whove been laid off, cuts in extracurricular activities such as athletics or music, cuts in basic life skills, such as cursive writing, and cuts in other areas of schools, such as transportation. There is no single solution to Standardized Testing. In order for some students to learn properly, the solution is less testing and a more focused, personalized curriculum. To others, the standardized testing should stop altogether and the students educators should be the only ones writing and
JACOB C. KABAT
JACOB C. KABAT
JACOB C. KABAT