Mandating a Graduation Test to Stop Students from Slipping Through the Cracks

On account of high school students having to take a standardized test to graduate, one reason why this intake is unnecessary and irrelevant is because different schools teach different things. According to the article, “Should A Standardized Test Be A Requirement For High School Graduation?”, it suggests, “The standardized test

We shouldn’t have to take standardized tests because they don’t provide any feedback on how to perform better. The tests treat everyone who takes them feel identical, they don’t make you feel different. These tests make create a huge amount of stress on teachers and students. Most test takers can handle certain levels of stress but others can’t handle any amount. There should be other options that schools and colleges could use or get rid of the tests all

In the world today standardized testing is mandatory in all schools whether they are public or private. If schools continue to make these test mandatory, students grades will show the reflection of what they are not learning. The school might also receive less state funding due to poor performance on these tests. Once No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was introduced US students slipped from 18th in the world in math in 2000 to 31st in 2009 (Standardized). Standardized testing is not beneficial overall because it does not cater to all students, they do not cover real-life topics, and they are detrimental to students.

The first statewide education system was built in 1837 by Horace Mann. His beliefs behind creating a system through standardized testing was to create a purposeful lasting common-school movement for professional teachers to educate the youth in creating social efficacy, civic virtue, and character. Today, students repress the idea of tests and idolize these exams as simple memory tests instead of knowledge/skill based tests. The blame and pent up anger students rile with teachers about exams breaks the whole purpose of learning. Today, students look at tests and exams as a point-based competition. Whoever gets the highest score is presumably deemed the smartest in the class. Students might know nothing about the info and how to apply their knowledge to real life applications but

Kids will not have time to enjoy doing other things in class that are entertaining because the test takes up too much time.Parents are not wanting kids to take the standardized tests.The parents are not wanting their kids to take the tests and the government is realizing that more and more parents are doing that.Taking standardized tests puts stress and pressure on the students.

Why more standardized test won’t improve education. Having to focus more on passing a grade than the education learning is not going to help on improving education. “Test scores are used to bar students from moving one grade to another, to determine teacher and administrator pay, and to label schools as failing, a step that often leads to closure” (“Why” 1). Standardized tests seem

You would think that exit exams would be a good idea since they will test what the student has learned in high school, and how well they have retained that information. Many states do require a student to pass a certain test in order to receive a diploma. But, rather than prove how much students know, this can result in many capable students, who have finished all of their requirements, being denied their diplomas. If the Valedictorian does not pass the exit exam, are you going to bar him or her from graduating? After all, it is a fact that some people are better at taking tests than other people. Intelligent students who challenge themselves throughout their high school careers and have high grade point averages can do poorly on a test, while a student who has only taken basic level classes can score significantly higher. Is that a fair representation of what was achieved in high school?

These tests force schools to use a “teach-to-the-test” system, a system that’s highly inefficient, and they’re not even remotely reliable in evaluating schools and teachers. Since we are forcing our students to memorize topics instead of actually learn them, we are setting them up for failure when they are finally out on their own where almost everything is against them. Because of these major problems we are now seeing, we are creating the circumstances for several generations of screwing students out of a real education, and because of that, we need to stop giving out these tests. We need to completely eradicate standardized testing from our schools and education systems and to stop using them as a crutch to find if our students are actually learning or

Around 66% of Americans say the scores shouldn’t be used to evaluate teachers. Since the test scores don’t come back until the following year, the teacher has no time to teach what the students are struggling with. So if standardized testing doesn’t reflect student abilities,can’t evaluate teachers properly, and students don’t have the opportunity to learn what the are struggling with that school year then what is the point of standardized testing? Many people want to take away standardized testing and replace it with more

For every student wanting to apply to colleges, exempt classes, etc., standardized testing is put into use to measure the amount of knowledge about the subject. There are many biased opinions on why standardized testing should be banned. Many come from unscholarly critics. However, there are some critics who show both sides of a story when it comes to standardized testing. Over the years, standardized testing has shown a wide variety of grades that are not good enough for many students. Some students struggle with what they got on the standardized test simply because they are not adequate test takers. Some however have some critical advantages that “show” that they are capable of taking standardized test and knowing the material. In other words, standardized testing clearly demonstrates no abilities of what a student really has.

To start off, standardized tests take up too much class time. Class time helps prepare students for opportunities, responsibilities, and challenges. Without more class time, students will not be prepared for later in life. Plus, the students have almost all day to take the test. So, after they are done with the test then they do not have any class time left.

In various ways, standardized test are beneficial from tracking students’ progress over the years to not allowing teachers emotions to get in the way of the testing process. Standardized testing sets expectations high for students and it does hold them accountable for the same standards, which may lead to achievement gains. By looking at the students’ performance they will be able to determine how well they retain information. Also the school is able to learn what their students are able to do and what they cannot do compared to other school districts, so they would be able to improve their education system. When giving more personal assessments, it is very possible “that the teacher or person assessing the student can let their emotions or biases affect how they score that student” (Young). In most cases, standardized tests are objective. There are wrong or right answers, and there is no room for feelings or emotions. Standardized testing gives teachers guidance to help them determine what to teach students and when to teach it. Tests are highly accountable and reliable as they judge the candidates on a common platform across states and nations. Standardized testing is “a simplified way of timeline management” (A Look at the Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing). Standardized testing gives parents a good idea of how their children are doing as compared to students across the country and

There are performance exams where a student will have to perform a certain task such as conducting a science experiment, writing an essay, or doing an oral presentation that is videotaped. Then there are proficiency exit standards which is an assent that is a combination of portfolio-based assessment and performance exams; it could also sometimes include standardized tests. Exhibitions of a students work is another useful assessment. The most common exhibition is also one of the oldest in the books — the science fair (Peterson, and Neill). What won’t work for us is to just sit around and come up with the same tests except with different questions and problems, thinking that it’ll solve the problem. We can’t solve the problem with the problem. What we need to do it create a test that does not have as much of an impact as these standardized ones do. The main opposition for getting rid of/or reforming standardized testing is that if we get rid of it there will not be a way to measure a student’s knowledge. If we reform the tests it’ll be too much money and too much work to just change the tests for those who don’t do well. Yes, money is a big deal but getting the students a quality education should be a bigger

Tests are not overly demanding, none of the tests achieve reviewed in this study present unreasonable expectations for high school graduates. It is perfectly reasonable for states to require students to pass these exams to earn a high school diploma, the questions on these exams reflect material that most students study by early in their high school careers. In math, the tests place a heavier emphasis on pre algebra and basic geometry and measurement concepts more than concepts associated with Algebra I and high school geometry. In English, the exams are a better measure of basic reading comprehension skills than the more advanced students will need to succeed in college. The “cut scores” required to pass the tests reflect modest expectations.

The Board of Education uses it to determine a student's education level. A student can not move on to the next grade, or even transfer schools if the scores don't meet criteria. Standardized tests should be taken back and reconstructed to make it more capable and accurate information and scores. The reconstruction should consist of more subjects as well,to hit all subjects instead of just four. If standardized test were more constructed than what they are now, then their could possibly be more and better improvement in the school