The topic I find controversial is the reliance on high stakes testing to make schools accountable for the learning of students. High stake tests are mostly made up multiple choice questions and sometimes short answers which can only measure how well a student can remember basic facts. These tests do not cover the whole cognitive domain which can measure the true progress of a student, instead, they only can catch how well a student can answer the test maker’s prepared set of questions. And worse, public schools’ budgets get lower, money gets syphoned to private or charter schools who are not held accountable to the same testing requirements that are given to public schools. There are many external factors such as politics that can affect the
In this age of high-stakes standardized testing the idea of creativity in the classroom has become less and less popular. Susan W. Cress and Daniel T. Holm present a compelling case study for keeping creativity in the classroom in “Creative Endeavors: Inspiring Creativity in a First Grade Classroom” published online April 1, 2015 in the Early Childhood Education Journal.
“Mostly, they worry that common standards would reduce teaching to only a small range of testable information and would not produce the knowledge, flexibility and creativity needed. Buttressing this concern, the Center on Education Policy found that the emphasis on test-based accountability has indeed already narrowed the curriculum” (Mathis). Standardized testing has become a controversial topic recently throughout the nation because of the harsh, confined lessons teachers are being forced to give. According to a news article written by the New York Times, teenagers nationwide are taking anti-depressants to cope with test-related stress and teachers would rather retire than teach when the government seems to value testing over learning. Teachers
The Department of Education concludes that high-stakes testing and statewide standards puts too strain on both the teacher and student. Multiple studies show evidence of miscalculation of scores, teachers being blamed for low test score, and too much time spent on preparation for the tests. The purpose of this policy brief is to elaborate on the non-beneficial components of high-stakes testing and statewide standards. Thus, peer-reviewed research articles and evidential articles are reviewed on high-stakes testing and statewide standards. In addition, the state of Florida has shown the greatest amount of dissatisfied outcomes. The information provided in this policy brief will precisely indicate why high-stakes testing and statewide standards should be abandoned from the school system. I request the action of Congress to outlaw high-stakes testing and statewide standards for the betterment of all National citizens by passing a new law to force states away from standardized testing.
“Persistent school segregation does not only mean that children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds attend different schools, but their schools are also unequal in their performance” (Logan, Minca, and Adar, 2012, p. 40). Although segregation is not done intentionally, the negative effects of this are seen in urban school districts. This is evident in high stakes test scores and the graduation rates when compared to their suburban peers. This paper will argue that the schools themselves, including teachers, are a piece of the puzzle that continues to spread inequality in our urban educational system.
”). In the article the author states, “She couldn't get access to computers at school to do homework…” (“Sorry, I'm Not Taking This Test”). Many also argue that the test is socially biased, and punishes schools that perform poorly (High-Stakes Testing). Due to this method, school districts are forced to compete to perform better than one another to achieve the best grant, as a result a great deal of pressure is placed on teachers to prepare their students for the tests (“How No Child Left Behind Affects Your Child”).
As a result of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) states are required to annually test students in 3rd through 8th grade to determine whether schools are making adequate yearly progress (AYP). Schools that fail to meet the standard are required to enter into improvement programs (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2012). The threat of a school being placed on an improvement program makes a high-stakes testing (HST) program like NCLB controversial because failure brings federal sanctions. The effort to avoid federal sanctions has resulted in states lowering the required passing scores for students and accusations of “teaching to the test” (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2012). Opponents of HST argue that “teaching to the test” has raised test scores without teaching the critical thinking skills that are most necessary in the real
High Stakes Testing has been overly integrated in the education systems. High-stakes testing are used to determine grade retention, school curriculum, and whether or not students will receive a high school diploma (Myers, 2015). Since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, high stakes testing has become the norm and mandating that students must pass a standardized test before moving up in grade. As a special education director, the focus is to ensure the student’s accommodations are being followed. Accommodations help increase students’ academic performance. “Both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) call for students with disabilities to participate in the general education curriculum and in testing programs to the maximum extent possible for each student (Luke and Schwartz, 2010).” Throughout the years, high stakes testing is becoming more common than ever before. The reality is high stakes testing is one indicator in evaluating children with specific needs. This paper will discuss, the violation of the statutory language regarding assessment based on IDEA, the strategies and goals of a remediation, staff training, common Core and PARCC assessment, and funding for the remediation plan under IDEA.
What if the determining factor of whether or not you would be successful or a failure in life was solely based on the results of one test. Regardless of all the progress you have accomplished over your life, it all comes down to this big moment, the big test! That is the reality many students face annually due to high-stakes testing. High-stakes testing is the use of a summative test or an assessment to make decisions that are of prominent educational, financial, or social impact (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2013). Decisions such as graduation/grade promotion, school/state funding, or even job placement or termination.
Testing Our Schools was discussing the controversial topic of the newly introduced state testing that President Bush was trying to pass. President Bush was calling for higher standards in the academic world and wanted to hold schools and teachers accountable for the materials they are teaching students. This act would be known as “No Child Left Behind.” These standards where called “standards of learning” or SOLs. The documentary went to schools in Virginia to ask teacher how they felt about the standards that would be implanted in their schools. Many of the teachers seemed in favor because it gave them a guide on what to teach and how to teach the subjects. However, other teachers at schools in low income neighborhoods were opposed to the testing because students faced certain obstacles that would hinder true test score results. Many of America’s business sector was in favor of having this program in place because it made sure students were learning the information that would be needed later on in life. Although, these standardize test came with some glaring issues that made standards of learning a controversial topic among American society. Many people believed that the test were not an accurate indicator of a students true intelligence and the margin of error on these tests left many students being misclassified. The belief was, students were not actually learning the material but rather the main focus was to teach these students how to pass a test. These test sometimes
While America’s educational community is emerged in discussing the No Child Left Behind Act, high stakes testing, and what these new versions of old ideas actually mean for the larger society, the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) 2005 report shows that African-American males continue to spiral further down the achievement ladder. They are not thriving or surviving in many school settings. They have been flagged by Statistics as the highest rank among students who choose to leave school; are suspended, expelled, or kicked out of school. Unfortunately, the same is also true when it comes to poor test scores, low GPAs and high rates of referral and placement in special education. In stark contrast, African-American males are underrepresented in gifted education (NCES, 2005; Whiting, 2004; as cited in (Whiting, 2006, p. 222).
In this article, the authors tried to explore how rural elementary school administrators observe the effect of high-stakes testing in comparison to suburban and urban elementary administrators in Florida. By this study, they focused on the impacts of high-stakes testing on administrators’ instructional leadership behaviours, job satisfactions and motivation & school climate.
Many schools statewide are facing the contradictory topic of the exemption of standardized testing amongst their students. This format of assessing with American Education began in the middle 1800’s and grew when the NO Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated testing in the US in 2002. These actions taken were said to mainly have been put in place to keep teachers and schools accountable for the assurance of those paying taxes and what government money is being spent on. Despite these comments, the vast majority of people would say that the proficiency level aligned with the state’s reading and math, find it to be an impossible goal to aim for. And throughout the course of time, multiple days in the school year have been eradicated with test
Schools across the nation are eliminating programs that enhance creativity or even discussions about the current world events. They all have an identical curriculum and are set up to proceed one type of mind that processes information in one way. Thus, high-stakes testing pressures students to improve their performance. Lisa Collier states, “… So many Michigan students stayed home when their assessment tests were given last year that several high schools were threatened with loss of accreditation. In Illinois, 200 students expressed their scorn for the state's exam by showing up-and deliberately giving the wrong answers. Critics feel the students are being turned off to learning because they're being force-fed the dry facts and figures needed to excel on high-stakes tests…” The school is more about testing now, and we have turned away from creative teaching to teach a test and have unmotivated the students to achieve success.
In the cartoon with the teacher telling the student to get back to work or she will be left behind used exaggeration to show how that the author feels about testing in schools. Students are at their desks with blinders and tubes connecting to their head feeding them information and keeping them focused. Although, everything in the classroom is black and white outside the window it is luminous. As the girl looks outside there is a P.E sign and a mountain that says science along with the bright sun shining. Then, the teacher is telling the girl to go back to work or she will be left behind ,and the kids says “sounds good to me.” Exaggeration is used to indicate that schools are solely focused on testing. The tubes that are connected to the kids
With the many scandals out there in regards to high-stakes tests, teachers should be fully aware of specific actions that could possibly cause them to lose their license, additionally; if teachers are in fact participating in dishonest behavior or cheating on high-stakes tests they deserve what’s coming to them. At most schools, teachers are required to attend security meetings before they can administer a high-stakes test. As teachers, we always hold our students to high expectations; therefore we should hold ourselves to high standards. We are role models to the students that we serve and should conduct ourselves professionally at all time.