Faculty Empowerment & the Changing University Environment Essay

“According to a review of testing research that has been conducted over the past century, over 90% of students have found that standardized tests have a positive effect on their achievement. Students feel better about their ability to comprehend and know subject materials that are presented on a standardized test. Even if a perfect score isn’t achieved, knowing where a student stands helps them be able to address learning deficits.”(12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Standardized Testing). This shows when students are pushed to their limits and they have been working hard in a certain subject they are prepared for test . Teachers in this situation are put to a test also (“Good teachers understand that test preparation drills and specific core instructions to “teach to a test “) . Teachers are put to the test by whether or not they can push students to their best ability to pass the exam. Students and teachers are given the same amount time to teach a specific subject and get judged off of it . This goes back to say all of the stress put on students and teachers is unacceptable because students and teachers should not be judged off of a test

The wide-spread use of standardized testing in the American education system is not helping anybody. Standardized testing was designed to help schools see how their students were performing academically in standard way. The NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act made standardized testing tied to school funding. It made the government reward or punish schools based on test scores. It was made to help students stay on track. Instead, standardized testing is lowering the quality of education in the United States. Standardized testing puts stress on students, forces schools and teachers to “teach to the test”, and has not helped the United States in worldwide education rankings.

After students take standardized test, tests are scored and then schools are ranked based on the scores. For that reason school districts, fire teachers with low average exam scores. Consequently, teachers end up teaching to the test in light of the fear of losing their jobs. In a survey conducted in 2009, teachers were asked to complete this sentence: “This year, as a result of my instruction, the subject matter test scores of most of my students…” and most teachers thought they had covered all the material on the test. Although the fact that fifty-two percent of the students’ scores “increased somewhat from the beginning of the year” reveals that teaching to the test is not an effective method (page 53). Teaching to the test weakens education and makes it less meaningful. A poll directed by Education Week reveals that sixty-six percent of teachers felt as if by concentrating on what is tested, they left out other important skills and topics (page 59). Instead of teaching students to memorize facts for tests, they should be taught to

Although standardized testing has been a major part of schooling it has also had a negative impact on effective education. Standardized has made a huge impact on public schooling so much that not only does it affect the students but also the teachers. With the teachers now beginning to get raises or having their jobs on the line if their students fail the test, many students have not been getting the fullest education process that they could get. Students may not realize the impact that it has had on the type of teaching style that they receive because they are so used to it. With so many teachers not having a lot of time to teach what is on the test and the other things that they feel are important to students to know, a lot of

“…only twenty-two percent of those surveyed said increased testing had helped the performance of their local schools compared with twenty-eight in 2007” (“Public Skeptical of Standardized Testing.”). Furthermore the poll indicated an eleven percent increase, compared to last year, towards the favor of discontinuing the usage of students’ test results for teacher evaluations. William Bushaw, executive director of PDK International and co-director of PDK/Gallup Poll also stated, “Americans’ mistrust of standardized tests and their lack of confidence and understanding around new education standards is one the most surprising developments we’ve found in years” (“Public Skeptical of Standardized Testing.”). All in all, not only are these tests a concern for students, who are forced to sit through them, hoping to get a decent enough score to place into a class, receive their diploma, or even get accepted to the college of their dreams, but they are a concern for parents as well, who only want the best for their children and to see them succeed.

Not only does standardized testing not have an effect on the students but it also has no effect on teachers. Some teachers detailed a negative report when they talked about the testing. “[The] Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) testing did not provide benefits that offset the time and costs associated with testing. Teachers reported finding minimal value in the purpose or results from the tests.

Currently, standardized tests do not improve the education of students in America. Standardized testing is not an accurate measure of student’s knowledge because they are designed to test an extremely broad amount of students who do not have the same educational background. This makes it incredibly difficult to test students across the world on the same level and expect their scores to reflect their education. Standardized testing, by definition, is any test containing the same questions that is administered to a vast group of people for the purpose of comparing different student’s test scores. This issue is important because it affects the entire academic community, positively and negatively. Therefore, all teachers, students, school staff, and test administrators have some involvement with standardized testing. The vast majority of people in America have taken a standardized test sometime in their life, which makes these tests vital in the

Ever since then standardized testing has been a huge part of education. Teachers across the nation had to teach to the curriculum instead of what they thought the students needed to learn. Nowadays colleges strictly look at ACT and SAT scores rather than classroom grades, because they believe that some teachers grade on a curve and are not giving the students a fair chance. Standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance. A 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-over-year tests core improvements were temporary and “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning…”(“Standardized Tests”). Teachers are stressed over if they are teaching “correctly”. They went to a 4-year college, some even more, to get a degree in something that they wanted to do, either for themselves or for the children, and now they have to “teach to the test”. Tests can only measure a portion of the goals of education. A pschometrician, Daniel Koretz says, “standardized tests usually do not provide a direct and complete measure of educational achievement.”(Harris, Harris, and Smith).

This idea of teaching to the test is a complete waste of educational time, that is spent preparing students for this extremely important test, that could be time going into learning things that will prepare students for college and life after college. The reason teachers do this is because they are under such pressure from the school districts to have good scores on these tests, due to the increase in funding to schools that do well and the lack in funding to schools that do poorly, that they can only find the time to prepare for these standardized tests instead of “teaching students skills that go beyond the tests”

Many experts say that they are, in fact, improving education, but that it doesn’t account for a child’s individual placement. A majority of standardized tests account for the overall level as for the school or the entire state.

Many critics of high-stakes testing believe that these test cause teachers to teach to the test. Pedulla, Abrams, Madaus, Russell, Ramos, and Miao (as cited in Madaus & Russell, 2010) found in a national survey that 80 percent of teachers admitted to increasing time spent on subjects that are tested on. These critics also believe that test scores increase as a result of placing sole focus on the test and revolving curriculum and instruction around the specific high-stakes test of that school. I do not agree completely agree with the statement that test scores increase as a result of teachers teaching to the test. It is unfair to say that since the vast majority of teachers are teaching to the test, that all other teachers are also doing the same. Sometimes increased test scores are a direct result of the hard work of

Since the implementation of standardized testing, tests have actually strayed from their original purpose which is to measure student achievement and success. There are many different viewpoints when it comes to defining standardized testing. In the article, “Standardized Tests Do Not Effectively Measure Student Achievement” they define achievement as, “more than just a score on a standardized test.” Basically, they argue that achievement is too complex to be measured and put into a score. Opponents of standardized testing argue that these tests are unable to

Standardized tests exist for administrative, political, and financial purposes, not for educational ones (institute4learning). Should teachers teach to a test? Are standardized tests worth the stress and anxiety they put upon students? All students don’t learn the same so, why test them the same. Standardized tests are damaging our education.

People can take online courses these days. It is a chance for most people to get online courses on their own place. Students have the capacity to look over many diverse programs that would help them with their needs. Nowadays, most of the programs are available online from each department like business, management, and information technology. Additionally, students can browse different sorts of degree. The online courses have lower costs since they do not buy textbooks; they can downloads all assignments and all different materials that are required for their classes. Another benefit of these online classes is saving time since students do not have to attend classes, so they might have more time to do their assignments and study. Online classes evacuate the anxiety by permitting learners to study when it is helpful for most learners would like to study at different time. Likewise, students at schools have to take their exams and quizzes on the day their instructor planned for , but

Taking an online course can help a student accomplish anything they would like to do that is education related, such as getting ahead in certain classes, finishing high school early, or maybe even college. Another plus to taking courses online is being able to work at your own pace. Researchers are finding that the slowest student takes five times as long to learn as the fastest (“Online Classes”). Lectures and other materials are electronically sent to the student, who will then read them and complete assignments, which then allows them to do the homework when they would like to and at the speed they learn things (“10 Advantages”).