Essay about Schools Must Reduce Their Use of Standard 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

To many students standardized testing has become another part of schooling that is dreaded. Standardized testing has been a part of school since the nineteen-thirties; in those days it was used as a way to measure students that had special needs. Since the time that standardized test have been in American schools there has been many programs that have placed an importance on the idea of standardized testing such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Evans 1). Over the years the importance of standardized testing has increased tremendously and so has the stakes, not only for teachers but also students. All states in the United States of America have state test in order to measure how much students learn, and help tell how well the

At this point standardized tests are very ineffective. In 2002 the No Child Left Behind Act was put into place by congress, making it mandatory for all fifty states to test their students. The tests place copious amounts of stress on the students while not clearly showing how intellectually advanced they are. Although standardized testing has many benefits, schools should should opt of testing their students.

Since the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools and society have taken a different perspective on how to assess the student‘s progress. Schools are forced to make decisions based on assessments and how to show adequate yearly progress (AYP). Alfie Kohn points out that, in some cases, our students have become victims of standardize testing. In his article, Standardized Testing and Its Victims (2000), he demonstrates how testing have become detrimental to our students instead of helping them. He outlines these detrimental issues with eight facts.

In an attempt to create educational reform, pieces of legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have been passed with the hopes of making schools “accountable” to the children within their walls. Although this piece of legislation was eventually overturned its effects are still being felt within Americas public schools and it is estimated that this generation will be less literate than their precursors (Kohn). Although well intentioned, the NCLB failed schools, teachers, and most importantly students all as a result of one key aspect of the law: high-stakes testing. According to the No Child Left Behind act, all states are required to give standardized tests to their students in the hopes of holding teachers accountable for their scores and ensuring all students become “proficient.” These tests have come to determine whether or not students can graduate, how and what teachers teach, as well as how much funding a school will receive. High-stakes tests can make or break a school, but with all this pressure are kids really showing sizable gains in areas like math, science, or reading? The answer is no and time and time again

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

Many stakeholders’ in public education are seeking solutions to produce high achieving students who graduate ready to embrace technological challenges. One solution for many stakeholders’ seems to be high stakes testing. High stakes testing is an educational reform where decisions are based on individual student performance, teacher performance, and school performance. The tests are usually performed as an end of course or end of grade assessment after completion of the curriculum. The No Child Left Behind Act or NCLB signed by President Bush in 2001 was mandated to improve student performances and remove inequalities among diverse student populations. This Act required states to design and develop programs that employed test- based

Many schools uses the testing score to determine whether the student should be promoted to the next grade level or retained to the current level. The objectivity of the test allows for the same test to be administered to enormous numbers according to standard guidelines (Skinner, 1994). In fact, the 2002’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated the annual testing in all 50 states. The adoption of standardized testing program in the American education system serves as in indicator for students’ academic achievement.

Under the current policy of No Child Left Behind, standards and assessments rest tightly at the national education policy, and remain the strongest force on policy and practice. However, despite the important role of high-stakes testing in the effort to improve America’s public education system, there have been numerous effects on schools, teachers, and students.

Since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) the number of standardized tests conducted in American education has exploded leaving parents and educators alike to question how all this time and focus spent on testing is impacting the learning process? The answer to this question is critical to understanding if the NCLB is accomplishing its goal or eroding the American education system. The proliferation of standardized tests has fundamentally changed the structure of classroom instruction by shifting much of the focus to test preparation or teaching to the test as it is commonly known. This change in education approach towards teaching to the test is hurting America’s

It used to be that one week within the school year children dreaded. The paper and pencil exam that would determine their fate of progress for the next year; now has been turned into weeks or an entire month long of missing class and staring at computer screens to take tests. Standardized testing are used in schools as a way of figuring out benchmarks for students and teachers. These types of evaluations are used to see the progression throughout the year. With the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 by President Bush; was the starting appearance for Standardized Testing. These kinds of exams analyze a student’s ability to memorize; rather than expressing the student’s intelligence. Thus, giving teachers a curriculum to teach to the test, and not actually teach students the information the students need to learn. Standardized tests should not be heavily relied on because the exams don’t prove the students intelligence, and teacher’s jobs could be extremely affected.

Students have shown some small increases in test scores since 2002, when NCLB became a law, but they are nothing compared to what was predicted and promised (Strauss). Our government has invested huge amounts of time and money into increasing student test scores, but we have very little to show for it (Strauss). In fact, there is no evidence that better test scores help students in the real goals of education, which are to promote critical thinking, make lifelong learners, and to prepare children for real life (Strauss). Many people who would disagree on most issues, agree that the time taken for students to take the tests, along with the narrowed curriculum, and teaching to the tests, have had a very negative effect on overall student learning (Strauss). In the end, testing will document student achievement on individual, district, and state levels, and can give teachers insight into what needs to be done to help improve test scores. But the constant testing of students does very little to help their actual learning and may even hinder it

Not only do standardized tests frequently lead to a lack of learning, but they also limit the learning capabilities of more successful and motivated districts. The requirements of the NCLB Act are strict enough that, in order to meet them, teachers must vastly reduce the depth and variety of their curricula (Karp). As schools begin to view standardized exams as their sole opportunity for funding, and as teachers begin to see high test scores as their only guarantee of not losing their job, schools limit their material to the narrow guidelines of the state (Orr). Creativity is suppressed, bright students are unable to meet their potentials, and school time is wasted on test-taking strategies, all because of the national government?s threat of sanctions

The NCLB assessment practice has brought about some unforeseen consequences in the public education system — increased school dropout rates; student being give answered by teacher so a school can retain or expand their funding; and a big number of educators quitting the profession because schools are linking assessment scores to teacher evaluations (Amrein & Berliner, 2002, p. 2). Moreover, the NCLB concentrates solely on testing measures and as a result, schools are putting more weight on the state-funded instruction framework to expand student accomplishment for all students. Forcing teachers to focus solely on student's learning activities that prepare students for statewide examination, the impact of this has been many educators reporting

High-stakes tests often known as standardized tests, are assessments composed of similar questions, taken under similar conditions and scored in the same matter. Standardized testing is used to allocate budgets, craft policy, and determine student placement. Ever since the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002, standardized testing has been at the vanguard of education debate. The accentuation of testing has been placed as a means of measuring the quality of students, teachers, and schools. Though these changes are frequently meant to aid under-performing students, there are unintended effects on high performing students. This act has stirred controversy, a number of papers have been written and research has been conducted focusing