Mathematics Ever Since Elementary School

Standardized testing has diminished the true intention of schooling, for it “deliberately orchestrate[s] [an] assault on public education” (Ravitch 106). In an ideal world, students would look forward to receiving a diverse education; however, the current craze on standardized testing does not allow anything close to learning diversities. During a budget cut, a school’s first thought is to reduce “the non tested subject[s]”, which means everything besides math and reading (Ravitch 106). State required tests target the mathematic and reading subjects intensely; therefore, why should one teach anything else? “[F]ederal policies value only test scores”, hence the enthusiasm of schooling institutions

Many students throughout the American education system struggle due to the fact that they have to take a standardized test. But, this struggle differs for each student, some are too lazy to take them while others are having difficulty performing well on these tests. As a student who learned English as a second language, I could relate with the people who are having trouble performing well on standardized tests. When I was in high school there was nothing more frightening than Standardized tests. There was a lot of emphasize on these tests and they had the power to determine my future in the means of deciding which colleges I could attend. But, I wasn’t alone in this matter, not all students perform to their potential on Standardized tests. No matter how hard I tried to study for these tests, I was just not doing as well as my class mates. It made me feel like I was beneath all my other class mates and I thought they were intellectually superior. But, I met other like me who were not good at taking test and didn’t perform well on these

Chapter 4 describes Tom’s school experience in Pennsylvania and Poland, and discussed the relationship between math and many American students. Tom did not like math and thought he was not good at it. When he was asked to solve a problem in his class in Poland, he tried to make an excuse to avoid going to the board to solve it, which the book hinted typically worked in his American classes. However, he was still asked to solve the problem, which he could not do. The book explained that math is a difficult subject for many American students, and that on the PISA assessment American students score pretty low. Despite the bad reputation of American students being bad at math, the state of Minnesota ranked proficient in math. Overall, the chapter explained why students struggle in math and what Minnesota did to produce high test scores (Ripley, 2013).

Kevin Kumashiro points out in his article for The Progressive that “ The 2015 ‘Nation’s Report Card’ shows a declines in students test scores in reading and mathematics” since 1990. Over the years, school mostly focus on getting the right answer on high-stake tests. Herbert J. Walberg, wrote in his article standardized testing is the best to measure students “educational goals” (Walberg, 1) Apparently, getting the right answer on a test makes a student ready for the real world. “The scores don’t provide very much useful information for evaluation a student's achievement” (Harris, 1) Most individuals disagree with the states passing new laws since NCLB to make the opposing side happy. No matter how much the government tries to add laws to fix about measuring students ability it will backfire. Phillip Harris argues standardized test does a “poor job” with measuring students achievement. How the high-stake test fail in measuring “important attributes as creativity and critical thinking.” (Harris,1) Studies show standardized tests “reward superficial thinking.” (Harris,1) and discourage analytical thinking. Richard Rothstein, an educational economist stated ‘Measurement of students achievement is complex-too complex for social science presently available.’ (Harris, 1) These methods include standardized testing. Rothstein statement was made in 1998. More than a decade

Math has never been difficult for me. I think math has always been one of my strongest subjects. I think this because when I was younger I spoke Spanish first and then my parents put me in an all English speaking school and the only thing that didn't change for me was math. I never struggled in math through middle school because I always found it easy so my teachers would give me harder work than others. In the past when I struggles on a problem I would get frustrated really easy. I still get frustrated when I can't get something correct because I feel like I just want to give up and not try anymore. I would try to quit but then I remembered that if my parents found out I would get in trouble so I continued to do it. I wouldn't quit on it,

Each year many high school students are encouraged to take standardized tests. They are told how essential the tests are and to spend vast amounts of time preparing for them. Although many people think that standardized tests are a useful tool for the measurement of students’ aptitude and intelligence, they are ineffective to represent the true proficiency of their understanding.

Standardized testing has for so long been the determinant of success and progress in many school systems around the world. Students get exposure to standardized tests at one point or the other, and the result from these tests are used to determine if a student can advance to a higher level or not (Moore, 2014). The school system in the United States has in place standardized tests for students who wish to join college and this need to be taken and passed for one to be sure of a college education. Even at lower levels of learning standardized tests remain to be the primary determinants of one’s performances, and in many instances, failure of standardized tests may be the reason why one is retained in the same class for a second consecutive

Standardized testing has lowered student achievement in the past several years. “The US has slipped from 18th in the world in math in 2002, to 31st place in 2009” (Walker). Something needs to be done, because a good education is how Americans succeed. American children are losing a battle with education because of these high stakes testing. The original purpose of the tests is “to ensure that all children have a fair and equal opportunity to obtain high-quality education at minimum proficiency on State standards” (“Title I - Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged”). But, the test anxiety is becoming more prevalent, and is keeping students from performing their best (Kohn).

Standardized testing has been placed on a very high pedestal in our society today. Schools believe that students’ test scores show their level of intelligence and that is completely inaccurate. An example of the injustice test scores show about a student’s knowledge is given by Diane Ravitch in her article “The Essentials of a Good Education.” Ravitch, a research professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, claims that schools focus on test scores too much and should spend more time expanding their curriculum beyond mathematics and reading. Mathematics and reading are very important subjects to learn, but there are more subjects to be taught that can help a student when they grow up and lead them into their specific career path. I agree that schools need more classes relative to real world learning instead of focusing on certain test scores; consequently, federal funding should be spent on things other than simple subjects and rigorous testing.

As a result, many feel that tests like the ACT and SAT do not provide correct evaluations of a student’s knowledge or learning capabilities. Hence, in order to pass any test, memorization is automatically preferred rather than understanding the concept of the subject. An interviewee in Katy Walsh’s interview comment’s, “…I guess it's our human penchant for trying to attach a number to kids: 'You're an 83; you're a 78.' We are comparing and sorting kids by using these tests and that doesn't always correlate to what's being taught in school. If there was a stronger connection between what kids are taught in school that would make sense…” Although Standardized testing is utilized across the nation nowadays, it certainly does not measure one’s intelligence. With this in mind, it should be disallowed because it is an unbeneficial way of measuring the performance level of a student and creates a grade oriented mindset. We as students are being ranked based on our grades we receive on exams. But are these tests an effective way to measure student’s achievement? Students are being unmotivated to excel in subjects they struggle in because the educational system is defined their success by a certain number. The system in pinpointing out their weakness rather than helping students improve in their areas of difficulty. Therefore, they are manipulating the fact that a grade defines them and their future. Schools should focus more on the development of a child, rather than rank them based on the grades they receive in a test. Not only are standardized tests an undependable way of grading, but also, it does not promote life skills the child will need when growing

Standardized testing is used excessively in the United States to determine where a student should be placed. It determines what classes a student should take, how the school is scoring as a whole, and even provides information on how well a teacher is teaching the material. However, there seems to be a huge argument on whether this type of testing is actually beneficial. One controversial argument is that it only proves how well a student is able to memorize the material that they are given. These standardized tests are also interfering with other exams, like the AP tests, that students find more important for their future. There are situations where students will get anxiety just thinking about a test while others find it very easy. A better method to test a student’s abilities would be to use assessments where the teacher can see the areas that a student continuously struggles in so they can help the student improve their skills. Therefore, despite the over usage of standardized testing within our education system, the reality is that these tests don’t determine the efficiency of the system of education that schools use and doesn’t provide a helpful evaluation of the student.

Math has not always been difficult for me.When I was in fourth and third grade math was pretty easy and fun for me.Yes I did struggle in middle school because the teachers had told me to focus on my English because I was behind and so I did focus on English and my math grades dropped.When I struggled on a problem in the past I felt as though I was not getting the subject and I was just going to fail.But I learned the subject by asking friends for help.If I had a really hard time on a problem I would just wait until the next day because the teacher would go over the problem in class.But if it wasn't to hard and I could solve it with a little help I would usually ask my friends for help.I would struggle for about fifteen minutes on that one problem

If someone was to ask you “how do you define student achievement?” what would your answer be? Would you say student achievement is measured by state achievement tests? Or would you say that student achievement is too complex a subject to be objectively measured? There are many important skills students must be taught, and we need a way to effectively measure if they are in fact learning those skills. However, standardized tests cannot effectively show the learning of all students, especially those that are not good test takers. And of those skills that are tested, there are an endless number of arguably more important skills that aren’t being valued because they cannot be calculated. Furthermore,

I like how you mentioned that we can help student’s see that just because they don’t understand something, does not mean they never will. I feel that your quote is a powerful sentence to comprehend. I was a victim to a fixed mindset in Math starting in middle school. I thought that I would learn more every year in school until I hit 6th grade Math.

Much like you Karina, I often struggled in math throughout middle school and high school as well. In some classes especially when it came to algebra and geometry I would seek for extra help elsewhere because I sometimes wouldn’t understand the way the teacher would teach it. When it came to tests and I showed my work even if it was different then the teachers method of teaching I would often get comments that it was a “wrong” way of going about that problem, but at least I was still able to get the credit because the answer was overall still correct.